





















































</> «C 




* 

* 

^ ^ ^ A o v 

7 0 V X ^ aO s. / . 

% o 0 ’ .‘“I- C % ^ t ”'.^' x 

' , OC < ? 



/, // 7 <*r ^ 

/. 

A V A> O 

N -,-vW”,~ M 

a\ - \ > e * o # \ 

^ v* _% <?j> r CT c° 




A 




<^ s? 3 

> \'C' '^. , ^ 

. . , * " * o ’ ^ V # n %, A , , 

A C> V 0 A > -. 

' J ’ r* <p 5;% * 


-Y 


&■ 


* * 


A 


A~ s. 

x &M//S: 2, f . 

: ^ 

j ./> > ^ 

v _ . , ^u«-.xv^ ° <tf. * ^ vy ,;^ . 

'4O- C 0. ''», o’” ,#' % t *,M-'''0° -O , 

^ s-*’^rv < ”‘° \>\'*», "> Av'V>% 

* '%> J* *’ r' >”'■ <% c^‘ * -fY~ !f< '. "’<?• 

*V * <®\d^/A 0 <3-’ 0 0 

* z < 

, M: A A Wjur.* 4; 

A „ „ s s A y 0 * \ * A. 

„ A X c . V- ’ fl * t 'o 




t> ^ o A o V 

A- y ,j ^ * "A' 

% .-ov** 

^ 0 * . ^a: 



A’ ^ o ^ 

^ % *5 »- ■* ov * 

'?/ A Y ,J # ^ * aG S /y I c ^ v « \ 

,0^ . 0 N <•■ * * * ' .-!> 

C- . * - ' < J v ^ ' 

A x A 


A° c b % , ., 

> V s l,z>^ a % v ‘ *• Y * 0 






0o * ^ 


\ ... ■ ■ I 





■’p 0 N ° ^ 


^ ■% 


-C 

' ^£m>^ 0 

<i ^ r 

* $ ^ 0 


y 



■* A? o X 

AA n *» 

A At. 







o CL 

C 



X * / s S v * \ 

A 

* V 

V ^ 


,^ v V = v 

s * - ^ o' 

\ ^ ' u „ v * ^ 

«V A 1 8 * ^O C 0 " 0 * ^ 

* * v * '* 0° * ■rsS^y, * * 

oo v ; Awpfrvt - A V 

^^|f: o^. * 

^'*»K0^ , , 0 ^-' '*•' .^\f 0 ’ %S **, K °\V 

-/. c^ v .^; > a ^ A 0 v s _ 0 ^^. cv V * 

A % s -' A0A : *+«? - 

. <2 ■/. //%^SSS> „ i 

y> 

✓ 

^ -V 




0' ,J ?p c £> ‘0 <A '5' 

c^ * ^ £> ■* a v ✓ 

O. -/ o * x * <6 <b ' 

A 1 « « cv c 0 N ‘* <> •** 

^ C> *\**t*rv ** * 

£■" --, + - -v ;a. ' 


© 

21 

O 

✓ % * 

-V , s <\ <0_ J 

' ** Vv i ”*,% 

v atb/r/y?? * 


jr ' ' \X V J^/7 '///^ZU 

. a >* : 4 **> 

* $9*. 

%. *■ * 7L ” '' A A V „ - 

r* .;> <r <?' \V 

b ® b> o " ^ln ^ 

4 ' z a, <;> * 

^ ° 

* \' 

\ V 0 

> v c 



’f ^ 


'O. 


* Cl 

,* / ^ 

U X / , ' C .' \ 

^ c o n c ^ ’<& 7 ^ s A> 

&v 'Vv a' 

- ^ 





,00 




A 

* v 5 ^ 

i> I*A 

^ o N c „ ^ 

o° /W!', A , 

=a!m ; ^ 


S ' A A ”' 

A /"f/o. 


*t, A , 

** '£ « 

^ v x /r?^> 

'■ + 

"I# L ° o x 


^ y *> ^ A .IV 

r> ^ C> A w y 

V A ov 

, °o 0° .' -,. 

1 ^ A.”*" 


i z Y ^ ; AAvY : 

•:/ ..... V’ 1 /. 

0 <s, 


// x C^ V r 

L- A ,Y V -* -|\ 

^ V s :4 


- o5 ^ 

% Or ^ 

a riy L 

0^ \^ V ^ 

\> ^ ' * (, r 




/* ^* / <r . “ s 

^ c 0 N C ♦ '*<A " * .0 

■0* . J? * 

; a Y ; 

.* x° °*. * 







































































































































































































































































■» 







' 










' 













History of Liberia 

By 

THOMAS H. B. \yALKER 
Illustrated ... 



The Cornhill Publishing Company 
Boston 



Copyright, 1921 

By THE CORNHILL PUBLISHING COMPANY 
All rights reserved 




DEC 29 1921 


e T' 


PREFACE 


We have divided this little work into very short 
chapters, the chief aim of which is to make it convenient 
for the student to read and commit short portions easily 
and find it less laborious to discuss than a long chapter. 
There are occasionally illustrations given. 

The work is divided into two parts, ancient and 
modern. 

Dr. John A. Simpson, who wrote the foreword for this 
work, has spent twenty years in Liberia. He has prayed 
in the Senate, was pastor of the First Methodist Episco¬ 
pal Church, of which the president was a member, has 
been honored with the Ph.D. by the College of Liberia, 
and is one of the few to receive the coveted degree of 
K. C. 

We are also greatly indebted to Dr. Nathaniel H. B. 
Cassel, president of the College of Liberia; the late 
Bishop A. B. Camphor; Bishop I. B. Scott, who spent 
twelve years there; U. S. Minister Dr. Ernest Lyons; 
Rev. and Mrs. F. A. Price, who are now in Liberia at work; 
and the following works: Dr. E. W. Blyden's books and 
orations, African stories by Bishop Camphor, Dr. Reed's 
Racial Readjustments, Bishop Scott's Reports and 
Papers, Bishop Ferguson's work, Starr's Liberia, Mr. H. 
H. Johnson's work, The Stewart Missionary, splendid 
vii 


PREFACE 


viii 

volume, The Life of Crowther, Dr. M. N. Work’s Negro 
Year-Book, and Daybreak in the Dark Continent, for 
valuable data. 


April, 1920. 

Jacksonville, Fla., U. S. A. 


The Author. 


FOREWORD 


The struggles and achievements of the Negro race 
have never been accurately and fully recorded; here and 
there writers of note both white and black have written 
commendably of the native Africans in Africa and their 
descendants in America. 

The present great centers for educational acquire¬ 
ment, religious devotion, social and political achieve¬ 
ments, are geographically located in the United States of 
America, West Indies Islands and the Republic of Li¬ 
beria. A great deal of that which has been accomplished 
by this struggling race in America has been recorded by 
the scholarly writers of the race and read with enthu¬ 
siasm, pride and inspiration by the progressive members 
of the race scattered throughout the world. 

The efforts and progress of the race in Hayti, Santo 
Domingo and the British West Indies are less known 
and less appreciated, and Liberia as a nation, though 
the pride of the Negro world, has never been known and 
esteemed by the other portion of the race as it should. 

Now, after the close of the great World’s War, when 
in the titanic struggle Christian civilization has tri¬ 
umphed over the 12th century feudalism, barbarism and 
autocracy, the so-called superior race of mankind has 
begun to recognize the invaluable worth of a belated 
race, and the principles of universal brotherhood. 


IX 


X 


FOREWORD 


The members of the African race and the world of 
mankind are presented with a history recording the strug¬ 
gles of a portion of this race in Africa for civilization 
with political freedom. This “ History of Liberia ” 
comes as a beacon light along the rocky shores of the 
race’s surging sea. It is both racial and national in 
its scope, ancient and modern in its composition, com¬ 
prehensive in its treatment of facts, interesting and in¬ 
structive, tasteful in style, and designed to awaken 
within the heart of its reader a greater race loyalty and 
stronger patriotism of every true Liberian. 

Having scanned the whole of the book while in manu¬ 
script form, and read in detail several of the chapters, 
it is a pleasure to me to write these words as an introduc¬ 
tion to a book filled with so much interesting historical 
data and many inspiring facts which may be used by 
the students in school, and read by the parents in the 
home, and the patriot and statesman in public. 

Dr. Walker has done his work well, especially so in 
view of the conditions under which he had to write. He is 
the author of several different works, and without hesita¬ 
tion we place this volume, “ The History of Liberia,” 
in the forefront of his other books. This is a contribu¬ 
tion to Liberia as a nation, and the African race at large. 

Dr. Walker has written many books, and some of his 
best-known works have been on Liberia. Of his work, 
“ Presidents of the Negro Republic,” over 15,000 have 
been sold, and “ The Presidents of Liberia ” has also 
had a wide circulation. 


FOREWORD 


xi 


He was given the Divinitatis Doctoris by the College 
of West Africa, April 30th, 1907, and when a student 
at Gammon Theological Seminary won the Stewart 
Foundation prize by an oration entitled: “ Crowther of 
Sierra Leone, the Heathen, Missionary and Bishop.” 

We believe that as a text-book this history will meet 
the long-felt want of Liberian schools and will be a valua¬ 
ble encyclopedia at the fireside of every reading family 
in America, Europe and Africa. 

Yours truly, 

J. A. Simpson. 

March 18, 1920. 

Missionary to Liberia, Africa, 1899-1919. 

Liberian Address: Monrovia, Liberia, West Africa. 












INTRODUCTION 

Little brother of my heart, 

Come and speak with me. 

I hear you shrilling and singing apart 
In the waste by the hawthorn tree 
Little brother of my heart, I pray you 
Come and speak with me. 

Or, if you will not come 

Where the boughs meet above, 

Come to the orchard, the apple orchard, 

Where the wild honey-gatherers hum, 

And sing to me of love. 

— Ethel Talbot Scheffatjer. 

Id presenting this work on Liberia, we do not presume 
to give the public an entirely original work, but it is 
rather our aim to place before the public and the world 
an unabridged history made up of many extracts, say¬ 
ings and travels of others who have studied the country 
and its people. 

We believe, however, that we are presenting many 
facts that have not been before published. 

“ The Republic of Liberia is an attempt and an atone¬ 
ment. It is an attempt to establish a civilized Negro 
estate in the West African Forest; and a somewhat 
paltry atonement, which has been made by Britain and 
America, for the wrong-doing of the slave trade. As 
France shared to some extent this traffic in Negro bonds¬ 
men, we may claim her sympathy and participation 
also, in the Liberian experiment. She holds back her 
xiii 


XIV 


INTRODUCTION 


mighty forces and the tidal wave of her African Empire 
from the skirts of this small African Republic, wherein 
the descendants of slaves impressed with European 
culture may try to devise a new and appropriate civiliza¬ 
tion for Negro West Africa: preserving all that is good 
and practical of America’s teaching, shedding what is 
inappropriate, and inventing additional precepts suited 
to the Negro’s mind and body.” Sir Henry H. Johns¬ 
ton says, “ We believe that the future of those Negroes 
in the United States who cannot be absorbed into the 
American community without risk of civil war lies in 
Liberia and not in portions of the Tropical South.” 

As the historian above quoted and others might think, 
there is plenty of room within the 43,000 square miles of 
the Liberian Republic, to make a good beginning. Room 
and to spare; for this country, properly tilled and 
drained, cleared and cultivated, might easily sustain a 
population of twenty millions. 

The Negro of America will have to ultimately do one 
of three things: (1) amalgamate, (2) form a separate 
state, or (3) immigrate to Liberia. The first is to many 
odious and improbable, the second almost impossible 
and the third the most logical. The tension between 
the whites and blacks of America is becoming strained, 
which is seen in the agitation in the mixed churches, 
as well as in the large number of lynchings. Therefore, 
the study of Liberia is an absolute need of the race. 

Those who pronounce Liberia a failure, pass their 
sentence on snap judgment alone. It is not conceivable 


INTRODUCTION 


xv 


that fifteen thousand, or even forty thousand, American¬ 
ized Negroes could effect in a hundred years as much as 
France and England could do in other portions of Africa 
with unlimited resources in men, arms and money dur¬ 
ing the same period of time. Liberia should, in all 
justice, be granted another century of trial before the 
world in congress declares the experiment a success or 
a failure. 

It has been said that the phrase of Robert Louis 
Stevenson “ a footnote to history ” applies to Liberia, 
although to many travellers and historians it appears 
the most interesting portion of the West African coast- 
lands. Its area is trivial: — forty-three thousand miles, 
but within these small limits are locked up some of the 
greatest undiscovered secrets of Africa, besides enormous 
wealth of vegetable products, and possibly some sur¬ 
prises in minerals. As an example in comparative land 
area, Bulgaria has ten thousand square miles less than 
the little Negro Republic. 



/ 


# 
















> 


4 






























CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface vii 

Foreword ix 

Introduction xiii 

I Liberia, Longitude and Latitude. Visited 

by Hanno 1 

II Monrovia and the Liberian Region 5 

III The Topography of Liberia, and Its Flora 

and Fauna. The “Periplus” of Hanno 8 

IV Early Expeditions to Liberia 11 

V The Portuguese Influence on the West 

Coast 15 

VI The English on the West Coast and in 

Liberia 17 

VII African Products 24 

VIII Arts and Crafts in Early Liberia 26 

IX The Dutch in Liberia 30 

X Snqek’s Description of Liberia. The 

Chevalier des Marchais 35 

XI The Beginnings of the Slave Trade 42 

XII The Founding of Sierra Leone 49 

XIII Origin and Founding of the Liberian Re¬ 

public 51 

XIV The Settlement of Monrovia 60 

XV Liberia Named 66 

XVI Liberia’s Territorial Acquisitions 70 

XVII The Colonies of Maryland and Mississippi 77 

xvii 



xviii CONTENTS 

PAGE 

XVIII Liberian Progress and the Beginning 

of the End of the Slave Trade 82 

XIX Thomas Buchanan, the First Gov¬ 
ernor of Liberia 86 

XX Governor Roberts 93 

XXI The Founding of the Republic 100 

XXII The Republic in 1850. Roberts’ Sec¬ 
ond Term as President 107 

XXIII Population in 1853. Border Troubles 

and Annexation of Maryland 113 

XXIV Roberts as Consul. Domestic and For¬ 

eign Troubles and Complications 117 
XXV The Relations Between the United 

States and Liberia 123 

XXVI President Warner and the Ports of 

Entry Law 126 

XXVII President Payne. Edward James Roye 

AND THE ChINERY Law 132 

XXVIII The Ultimate Settlement of the 

Chinery Law 138 

XXIX Boundary Troubles with Sierra Leone 144 
XXX Liberia in 1880 147 

XXXI Boundary Troubles with France 153 

XXXII The Third Grebo War. Concessions 

in Mining and Rubber 157 

XXXIII President Arthur Barclay 162 

XXXIV Education in Liberia and the Needs 

of the Natives 165 

XXXV Population. Religion 168 

XXXVI The Presidents of Liberia. Term of 

Office—Birth and Death v 172 

XXXVII Different Parts of the Government 174 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


President King Frontispiece 

Facing Page 

President D. E. Howard 9 

Warriors of Early Days 10 

Liberian Soldiers 10 

The Council of Chiefs at Monrovia 21 

Dr. Edward W. Blyden 30 

J. A. Simpson 35 

President Joseph J. Roberts 35 

African Musicians 42 

Wash Day of the Aborigines 42 

Jehudi Ashmun 51 

Ashmun Street, Monrovia 59 

President Gibson and Prominent Statesmen 64 

President Warner 80 

President Benson 80 

President Payne 80 

President Russell 80 

President’s Mansion, Monrovia 94 

U. S. Legation, Monrovia 94 

President Cheeseman 100 

President Coleman 100 

President Johnson 100 

President Howard 100 

President Cheeseman and Cabinet 111 

President Johnson 120 

Hon. J. L. Morris 135 


xix 




XX 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


Facing Page 


Dr. N. H. B. Cassell 150 

Council General Dr. Lyons 150 

Bishop Ferguson 150 

Bishop I. B. Scott, M. E. Church 150 

President Barclay 174 

Chief Justice Johnson 174 

President E. James Roye 178 

Dr. Coleman 178 

Dr. Reed 178 

Ex-Mayor Fuller of Monrovia 178 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 




HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


CHAPTER I 

Liberia, Longitude and Latitude. Visited 
by Hanno 

In regard to its position on the map, Liberia may be 
styled the end of Northern Guinea, lying between Sierra 
Leone and the Ivory Coast. The mouth of the Cavalla 
River, just beyond Cape Palmas and the most easterly 
point on the coast, is in longitude 7°33' west. The 
mouth of the river Mano, which forms the westernmost 
part of the Republic, lies in about N. latitude 6°55' and 
W. longitude 11°32' Liberian territory extends north¬ 
wards to about 8°50' N. latitude in the interior. 

From the mouth of the Mano, the trend of the coast 
is in a southeasterly direction, and at the entrance to the 
Cavalla, reaches to within 4°22' of the Equator. Curv¬ 
ing to the northeast from this point, the Guinea Coast 
does not again approach the Equator until the delta of 
the Niger. Cape Palmas, in the southernmost extremity 
of Liberia, is mentioned again and again in accounts of 
early African exploration. On the other hand, the river 
Mano to the northward probably was the extreme limit 
seen by Hanno, the Carthaginian admiral, in his voyage 
along the West Coast of Africa in approximately 500 
B. C. 


l 


2 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


This particular Hanno, who was one of fourteen fa¬ 
mous members of that Carthaginian family, no doubt 
saw the last crumbling ruins of a once great Negro civiliza¬ 
tion, of which natives paddling down the rivers sang. 
According to Hanno, they gave accounts of a great em¬ 
pire that had tottered and fallen with the years. 

Whatever boundaries, confines or customs were com¬ 
mon to that empire have been entirely blotted out by 
time, for Liberia today is but 43,000 miles in extent, 
and from time to time its territory has been lessened by 
French and British inroads upon it. It is bounded on 
the north and east by French possessions, and on the 
west by the British Colony of Sierra Leone. To the south 
is the Atlantic Ocean, on which the steamer track be¬ 
tween Europe and South Africa parallels the Liberian 
seacoast. This long stretch of coastline gives Liberia an 
enviable strategic position. 

Liberian flora and fauna are peculiar to that country 
and its immediate neighbors of Sierra Leone and the 
Ivory Coast alone, so that the Republic differs materially 
in its animal and plant life from the entire remainder of 
West Africa. This is the more astonishing on account of 
the fact that on the map the country does not seem to be 
especially marked off from the other lands of the region. 

In respect to its physical geography, Liberia consists 
of the basin of the St. Paul’s River on the one hand, and 
the more westerly portion of the Cavalla’s watershed, 
together with a section of the rugged hill country which 
forms the Mandingo Plateau, where the Moa, Mokona 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


3 


or Sulima River finds its source. This large stream, 
which is known by its first two names in Liberia, and 
by the last in Sierra Leone, enters the sea within the 
confines of that Colony. 

The French have drawn the northern frontiers of 
Liberia in such a fashion as to exclude the entire basin of 
the Upper Niger from Liberia. The country itself 
forms the southern section of the region which slopes 
more or less gently to the sea from the abruptly rising 
plateaux and ranges, from which the Niger, Senegal and 
Gambia rivers flow in their respective directions. 

On the maps of the ancients, and some of the more 
modern charts, are found “ The Kong Mountains,” 
rising on the northeastern frontiers of Liberia. These 
peaks were invariably marked on all maps with the 
portentous word, “ gold.” Many were the expeditions 
which sought the range, and many were the legends 
woven about it. At the present time, it is believed that 
the Druple Range and the Nimba Mountains are the 
“ Kong Peaks ” of history. Altitudes of from six to 
ten thousand feet are reported by travelers in connection 
with these ranges, which run northwestwards three 
hundred miles from the sea to the headwaters of the 
Upper Senegal. The Niger rises also in these mountains, 
which are the highest to the west of the Cameroons. 

Liberia’s seaboard of three hundred and fifty miles is 
much indented, but in such a manner that no sheltered 
anchorages or roadsteads are afforded for the protection 
of coastwise vessels. A site for a good harbor is Mon- 


4 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


rovia, the capital on Cape Mesurado, where the construc¬ 
tion of breakwaters and jetties, together with some dredg¬ 
ing work, would serve to establish a port of the first 
importance in the West African maritime trade. Aside 
from Monrovia, which is even now the best landing 
place, there are several spots where disembarkation may 
be effected more or less easily. Navigation of the rivers 
by vessels of much draught is made impossible by the 
enormous sand-bars, which block the entrance to every 
stream of importance in the region. 


CHAPTER II 


Monrovia and the Liberian Region 

Monrovia, the capital, is again fortunate in being 
only ten days out from Southampton, Liverpool and other 
British ports by English liners maintaining only a fair 
rate of speed. A good deal of the seaboard is dotted 
with sharp rocks and reefs, which lie near the surface 
and render coastwise navigation rather dangerous. 
Before the World’s War of 1914-1918, English and 
German liners made the direct run to Monrovia every 
two weeks. 

Liberia was formed by its colonists into an independent 
republic in 1847, and during the next two years, was 
recognized by most of the great powers except the United 
States. Until 1857, it consisted virtually of two re¬ 
publics, Liberia and Maryland, which amalgamated in 
that year. 

At various times, Liberia has been involved in disputes 
with France, England, and the indigenous natives of the 
region. These latter Negroes, who are uncivilized, 
number over two millions, and form the bulk of the 
population. Twelve thousand American-Liberians are 
the governing class, and the remainder of the voting 
population consists of thirty or forty thousand civilized 
Christian Liberians of native origin. 

5 


6 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


The American colonists may only take residence 
along parts of the coast line and about the mouths of the 
St. Paul’s and Cavalla rivers. Therefore, except for 
a narrow belt of cleared land all along the seaboard, 
Liberia is thickly forested. This is not true of the ex¬ 
treme North of the Republic, for there the dense tropical 
growths give way to a mountainous country covered 
with grass and thinly scattered trees. This open growth 
is more or less caused by the action of the Mohammedan 
tribes in clearing the forest lands for planting and the 
importation of cattle and horses. 

The densest forest of the region is the Gora, which is 
regarded as being nearly wholly uninhabited. It ex¬ 
tends about six thousand square miles between the 
British frontier and the Po hills. 

It is on account of these forests and tropical jungles, 
which contain many varieties of palms and bamboos, 
besides other trees of more rarity, that the hinterland of 
Liberia is so little explored. The nature of the land 
itself is rugged and rises abruptly in certain sections to 
mountains of considerable height. 

There is a large salt lake or lagoon lying between Cape 
Palmas and the Cavalla River, but except for this and a 
few others, there have been no discoveries made of any 
sizable lakes. The coast, itself, has few lagoons and 
marshes compared to the neighboring seaboards of Sierra 
Leone and the Ivory Coast. In fact, the capes and 
headlands of the region oftentimes rise abruptly from 
the sea. Cape Mount towers almost sheer in some 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


7 


places for 1,050 feet, while Capes Mesurado and Palmas 
are inferior in actual height. 

Liberia’s rainfall and climate is equatorial. The 
mean precipitation is about a hundred inches per annum. 
More than a hundred miles inland, the climate is not 
so wet, and the weather is much cooler during the dry- 
season, which extends from November until May. Tem¬ 
peratures near the coast range from around 75° to 105°, 
while in the interior 56° is a low mark. 


CHAPTER III 


The Topography of Liberia, and Its Flora and 
Fauna. The “ Periplus ” of Hanno 

Much of the fauna of Liberia is that of a far-distant 
period of development; examples of which are found 
fossil in the caves of certain lands in Europe. Among 
the mammals, the pigmy hippopotamus and the zebra 
antelope are common to this region. Several interesting 
local developments of the Diana monkey are also found 
in the dense forests, as are several peculiar varieties of 
reptiles. The brilliantly colored red and blue lizard 
is common to Eastern Liberia, as is the giant scorpion 
to the forests. Those common pests of Equatorial 
Africa, white ants and mosquitoes, are almost entirely 
absent from the country. 

Exploration and development of Liberia has been 
largely curtailed by the forest growths, which have al¬ 
lowed the inhabitants to remain in a far more backward 
condition of civilization than have the tribes of other 
sections of Africa. 

Owing to this fact, the mineral resources of Liberia 
are at present almost entirely unfathomed. The sand of 
nearly every river of importance contains some propor¬ 
tion of gold, and garnets and mica are common. From 
the volcanic range of the Finley mountains, some dia- 
8 










* 










President D. E. Howard 

























































HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


9 


monds have been taken. Iron is present nearly every¬ 
where, and sapphires have been found. 

The “ Periplus ” of Hanno gives a probably authentic 
account of how and when the first white men visited 
Liberia. Setting forth from Carthage about 520 B. C. 
for purposes of exploration and colonization, his ships 
skirted the North and West coasts of Morocco, until 
the mouth of the Rio De Oro was reached. Here he 
began the settlement of Kerne Island. 

Passing the inlet of the Senegal, Cape Verde, and what 
is now Sierra Leone, his vessels apparently followed the 
coast as far as Cape Palmas, although some accounts 
say the voyage was ended at Cape Mount. 

Sherbro Island was made a stopping place, and here, 
Hanno says, his seamen captured hairy and grotesque 
appearing women, whom they called gorillas. Some 
historians consider that these “ women ” were merely 
specimens of the chimpanzees which still range the jungle 
along the Liberian Coast. Others believe that the ac¬ 
count of Hanno is substantially true, and that female 
savages of an undeveloped and primitive type may have 
been found. 

Luckily for the pages of history, Hanno and his fleet 
returned safely to Carthage despite adverse winds, and 
the usual maritime difficulties and delays of those times. 
After his arrival, he wrote an exhaustive history of his 
voyage, which was transferred to tablets and set up in 
the temple of a Carthaginian god. Shortly afterwards, 
translations into the Greek language were made, and 



10 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


accounts of the epoch-making voyage were given by 
several early historians. 

Hanno especially mentions the sheets of flame which 
swept over the grass plains at the end of the rainy season, 
and was apparently much impressed and startled by the 
sight of Mount Kakulima wrapped in fire from crest to 
base. The practice of burning the grass and brush at 
this time of year is still continued in the West African 
coast lands. 

Great traders and seamen as the Carthaginians were, 
it is extremely likely that they made other and uncharted 
voyages to the West African coast, purely for purposes of 
trade. There is a complete dearth of information regard¬ 
ing these voyages in the works of either Greek or Roman 
geographers until after 200 A. D.; but without doubt 
the Liberian tribes traded indirectly with the merchants 
of the Mediterranean at that time, possibly through the 
desert tribes. 


, 



Warriors op Early Days 

































































































4 
















« 



* 

























#■ 









































































CHAPTER IV 


Early Expeditions to Liberia 

For a thousand years, intercourse between the Mediter¬ 
ranean peoples and the Negroes of the Equatorial West 
Coast was apparently broken off. In the tenth century, 
Senegal was invaded by Arab hordes, who had been 
sweeping victoriously across the Sahara under the banner 
of Islam, since 640 A. D., when Kale and his desert 
tribes surged into Egypt. 

Tripoli, Mauritania, and the regions of the Upper 
Niger had been invaded by 1200, and the tide of Islam 
then broke down the barriers along the Atlantic Coast, 
and swirled about Lake Tchad on the one side and the 
mouth of the Senegal on the other. On the upper half 
of that river, there is still existent a town named after 
Kale. 

Preceding the march of the desert tribes, there was a 
great religious movement of Islamized natives from Mo¬ 
rocco to the Upper Niger. Some echo of this great 
Asiatic invasion may have reached Liberia; but the 
next appearance of white men in the country is told in 
the presumably legendary account of the journey of a 
Spanish mendicant friar, and certain members of the 
Franciscan order in 1230. In his expedition to the 
Canary Islands, nearly two hundred years later, De 
11 


12 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


Betencourt is said to have obtained proof of this early 
journey for exploration and conversion. From Mo¬ 
rocco, overland to the Mandingo Plateau, and then 
towards the Liberian Coast is the supposed route of the 
Spanish brothers. 

Another traditional expedition is that of the Dieppois 
merchant-adventurers, who may have reached the Li¬ 
berian seaboard in the fourteenth century. In 1700 the 
French claimed that these Norman seamen had not only 
explored the coast-lands, but had established settle¬ 
ments at Grand Basa and Cape Mount, as well as at 
other points. No absolute proof has yet been offered, 
however, to prove that the Portuguese were not the first 
white men to reach the coast. In 1455 and 1456, what 
is now Portuguese Guinea was visited by Luigi Ca’ da 
Mosto, a Venetian mariner in the service of Prince Henry 
the Navigator, whose previous explorations had opened 
up the sea route to the Far East. Ca’ da Mosto saw the 
mouth of the Senegal and discovered Cape Verde and 
the Cape Verde Islands, but got no farther to the South 
than the Bisagos group of Islands. 

Ca’ da Mosto is noted not only for his bold voyage of 
exploration, but also for his clear and concise account 
of the tribes and geography of the part of Africa which he 
visited. Ca’ da Mosto seems to have been something 
of an author as well as a skilful navigator, for he wrote 
a vivid account of the voyages and travels of a fellow 
captain of^the Portuguese Navy, Pedro de Sintra. De 
Sintra was sent out by King Alfonso V, and opened his 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


13 


career by giving the name “Sierra Leone” to what is now 
the British colony of virtually the same name. The 
Portuguese rendering of the name is “ lion-like mountain 
range,” and da Mosto states that this appellation was 
due to the roaring of the surf on the coast. Before de 
Sintra’s time there is a record of a voyage made by 
one Diego Gomez of the same service, but he unfortu¬ 
nately had no historian to chronicle his travels. 

Continuing on beyond Sierra Leone, de Sintra reached 
as far as the River Marshall, called in the ancient ac¬ 
counts “ River Junk,” which lies between Monrovia and 
Grand Basa. De Sintra also gave names to the bold 
headland of Cabo do Monte (Cape Mount) and, near 
Monrovia, Cape Mesurado. Several reasons have been 
assigned for the latter name, which appears to mean 
either “ measured,” “ miserable ” or “ calm.” This 
latter meaning may have had something to do with the 
peacefulness of the natives, for da Mosto calls it “ Cape 
Cortese ” in his Italian narrative. 

During a lapse of seventy years in the French voyages 
on the Atlantic, the Portuguese obtained a strong foot¬ 
hold on the Gulf of Guinea and asserted their advantage 
of priority for nearly a hundred years. 

With these mariners, Christopher Columbus made 
several voyages to Guinea, before his epoch making cruise 
to “ The New World.” His connection with Liberian 
history lies in the fact that in all probability he landed on 
that coast when the caravels touched there for com¬ 
merce in pepper or to renew their water supply. 


14 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


In order to maintain their sovereignty over the sur¬ 
rounding territory, the Portuguese erected forts at the 
mouth of the River Gambia early in the sixteenth cen¬ 
tury, and toward the close of that era the English en¬ 
tered the field and built settlements for trade near Sierra 
Leone. As Great Britain’s territorial acquisitions grew 
rapidly, by the seventeenth century she was one of the 
leading powers on the Gold Coast. 

This constant influx of traders, particularly the 
Portuguese and English, caused a trilingual speech in the 
natives of the Liberian Coast, who were able to speak 
the two foreign languages as well as their native tongue. 
The chiefs and headsmen became particularly conversant 
with this art, and at Cape Mount some of them could 
speak Portuguese, Dutch, French and English with great 
ease. As is today the case in the South Seas, a cosmo¬ 
politan or “pidgin” tongue was formed out of the Portu¬ 
guese and the native dialects, and was greatly used in the 
territory between Cape Yerde and Cape Palmas. With 
the waning of Portuguese dominion, this tongue became 
based on “ pidgin ” English instead of Portuguese. 


CHAPTER V 


The Portuguese Influence on the West Coast 

Seven years before Columbus set sail for America, 
the Portuguese were filling their water casks in the Congo 
River, and their hold was in large measure retained down 
to the beginning of the nineteenth century. Portuguese 
was the established language all through the Liberian 
coastlands, for the early traders of that country inter¬ 
married with native women, and passed the European 
tongue down to their offspring. Consequently even 
in the nineteenth century, Portuguese-speaking Chris¬ 
tian mulattoes were to be found from the River Senegal 
to the Gallinhas. 

To mark the path of their superb seamanship, for 
they sailed toy caravels down one of the most dangerous 
coasts in the world, they named headlands and forelands 
rivers and inlets and mountain peaks and ranges from 
Morocco around the coast of Africa to the Red Sea. 
Not only did they merely name the features of the coast, 
but insured their dominion by bringing the Christian 
religion to the natives. In 1491 their priests were say¬ 
ing mass on the Congo, and ten years later the results 
had been so gratifying as to justify the appointment of 
a native bishop for the district. 

The greater number of the Portuguese colonies are now 
15 


16 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


gone from the West Coast, but the religion remained in 
some measure and the place-names given by the sailors 
from Oporto are still there. The Gallinhas was so named 
on account of the multitude of domestic fowls in its 
vicinity, and Cape Mount, Cape Mesurado, and the 
rivers St. Paul and Junk are all survivals of ancient Portu¬ 
guese sovereignty. Then comes the Cess or Cestos River, 
thus named on account of the fish weirs or baskets (ces¬ 
tos) which are to this day placed in the stream. 

Cape Baixo and the Sanguin River were also given 
their names by the Portuguese. The river’s name is 
gleaned from the color of the red clay that floats down it 
at time of flood, although there is an interesting tale of a 
native maiden, whose love for a sailor led them both to 
their death and subsequent burial in the river by a 
native and his headsmen. 

Few of the original native names were left by the 
Portuguese. One example of these, the Sino settle¬ 
ments, still retain their tribal name. The Dewa River 
was changed by the Portuguese for obvious reasons to 
Rio Dos Escravos (River of Slaves), but now has returned 
to the original appellation. The “ Grand Paris ” founded 
by the adventurers from Dieppe is now Grand Sesters, 
and Cape Palmas also takes its name from the Portuguese. 
The Cavalla River is so called on account of the super¬ 
abundance of fish, particularly mackerel, that then and 
now were found in this stream. Cavalla’s Portuguese 
meaning is “ Mackerel.” 


CHAPTER VI 


The English on the West Coast and in 
Liberia 

In the fifteenth century, mariners of any race did not 
sail up and down the treacherous West Coast for pleasure 
merely nor to bring Christianity to the natives. Trade 
was their object: trade in gold, in pepper, and later on, 
in slaves. When the Dieppois came beating back into 
their French haven, they brought with them two kinds 
of “ Grains of Paradise ” or pepper, which they dis¬ 
covered in use by the Negroes of Sierra Leone and Li¬ 
beria. These “ Grains of Paradise / 7 which have lent 
their name to the Grain Coast, are sometimes called 
cardamons, or more often by the Moorish-Castilian name 
malaguetta. They were first introduced into Europe 
by the Moors, and almost immediately a thriving trade 
in pepper sprang up all along the West Coast and greatly 
increased the number of voyages of exploration to that 
region. 

Although the English mariners were quick enough in 
following the Spanish explorers to America, they were 
less enthusiastic about voyages to the African Coast. . 
Indeed, the first Englishman on the West Coast coasted 
down the seaboard as a sailor on a Portuguese ship. 
In some manner, for he was travelling in disguise, he 
17 


18 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


penetrated the mysterious walled city of Benin, and 
nearly lost his life in consequence. His safe return to 
England caused British seamen to turn their eyes south¬ 
ward, and in 1553, they had begun an extensive trade in 
pepper. The first expedition to fly the British flag was 
composed of the ships Primrose and Lion , which left 
Portland on August 12, 1553, under the command of 
Antonio Anes Pinteado of Oporto, a former captain of 
high rank in the Portuguese Navy, and a Captain Wind¬ 
ham. A pinnace called the Moon joined the expedition, 
and their first landing was made at the Canary and Cape 
Verde Islands. From these, they set sail for Liberia, 
and entered the mouth of the Cestos River. Here a 
division of opinion arose in the little fleet. Pinteado 
wished to load up with pepper, and Windham was in 
favor of finding nothing but gold. 

Finally, Windham’s counsel prevailed, and the ships 
sailed up the Benin River. Here the king promised a 
great cargo of pepper, but delayed its arrival so long that 
the seamen, unused to the climate, began to die from 
fever at the rate of four and five a day. Windham be¬ 
came totally unbalanced, presumably from fever, en¬ 
gaged in a severe quarrel with Pinteado, and displaced 
him as commander of the expedition. The latter died 
on the way home. Thus the first British attempt at 
discovery ended in disaster. 

One year later (1554), Captain John Lok and two 
“ gentlemen adventurers,” Sir George Barn and Sir 
John York, set sail from London in the Trinity , the 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


19 


Bartholomew and the John Evangelist. Experiencing 
many dangers from hidden rocks, they were driven down 
the coast until they passed Cape Mesurado in Liberia. 
The next day they put in at the mouth of the Cestos 
River, which, together with the coast, is carefully de¬ 
scribed in their log-book. They also called at the “Rio 
Duke,” and described Cape Palmas as “ a fair high 
land.” After a voyage lasting one year, these ships 
returned safely to England with huge cargoes of gold, 
ivory and pepper, for which they had traded all along the 
Gold Coast. 

In the year of their return, a third British expedition 
dropped anchor in the river Cestos. This was com¬ 
manded by William Towerson, whose two ships, Harte 
and Hinde, had left the Isle of Wight late in September. 
Captain Towerson was much impressed by the Liberian 
Coast, of which he said: “ The land full of woods and 
great rocks high above the shore, and the billows beating 
so that the seas brake upon the shore as white as snow, 
and the water mounted so high that a man might easily 
discern it four leagues off. On nearing the river St. 
Vincent we met with divers boats of the country, small, 
long, and narrow, and in every boat one man and no 
more. We gave them bread, which they did eat and 
were very glad. Directly before the mouth of it there lie 
a ledge of rocks — so that a boat must run in along the 
shore a good way between the rocks and the shore be¬ 
fore it come to the mouth of the river; and being within 
it, it is a great river, and divers other rivers fall into it: 


20 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


the going in to it is somewhat ill, because that at the en¬ 
trance the seas do go somewhat high; but being once 
within, it is as calm as the St. John’s River that is found 
in Florida.” 

As to the inhabitants on this coast, “ They are mighty 
big men, and go all naked, except something before their 
privy parts” (much like the Igrotos of the Philippine 
Islands), “ which is like a clout about quarter of a yard 
long, made of the bark of trees, and yet it is like cloth. 
Some of them, also wear the like upon their heads, 
being painted with divers colors; but the most part of 
them go bare-headed, and their heads are clipped and 
shorn; and the most part of them have the skin of their 
bodies traced with divers works in the manner of a 
leather jerkin. The men and women go so alike that 
one cannot know a man from a woman but by their 
breasts.” 

Towerson and his men evidently penetrated inland 
some distance, for he speaks of the making of iron arrow 
heads, which even then was in practice by the natives. 
He must have been a scholar of sorts, for his collection 
of the native words and phrases of that time is still 
interesting to linguists. He mentions that goats, fowls, 
and dogs were then found in the various villages, and 
comments on the fact that there were no horses in that 
part of the country. The unending forest growths and 
jungles are also duly described in the interesting account 
of his travels. 

A year later, Towerson returned to Ireland with only 


























HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


21 


one ship. The Hinde had gone down in a great tropical 
tornado off the Guinea coast. Towerson bought two 
ships in Ireland and sailed into Bristol in the early part 
of June. The lure of adventure must have been strong 
in him, for in September of the same year he again left 
England on an African cruise. Beaching Sierra Leone 
and the mouth of the Cestos River, they arrived just 
too late to see the first battle between ships of European 
nations off this coast. Several French ships had fallen 
in with a Portuguese squadron, and as the latter nation 
had just decided to close the Gold Coast to foreign 
traders, a sea-battle on a small scale resulted. In the 
encounter, one of the Portuguese ships went down. In 
spite of this clash of nations, Towerson’s second voyage 
was a comparatively uneventful one. At several Li¬ 
berian rivers, he replenished his water supply, and finally 
returned to England safely with a large cargo of ivory. 
In 1577, he made his third and last voyage to the sea- 
coast of Liberia. 

Other English adventurers, lured from the explora¬ 
tion of the New World by the fabled riches of Africa, 
visited Liberia immediately after Towerson’s voyages. 
One, Robert Baker, set down his adventures in doggerel 
rhyme, which is still extant. His jangling rhymes are 
descriptive of a veritable argosy of adventure, for at the 
outset, he had the misfortune to be present at the first 
battle between black and white men on that section of 
the coast. 

The affray occurred after the Krumen, who inhabited 


22 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


that particular region, had been accused of stealing 
trade goods from a pinnace. The English unwisely 
attempted to invade Kru territory, and were met by a 
fleet of a hundred war canoes, hurriedly summoned from 
up and down the neighboring coast. They used only 
light darts against the arquebuses, arrows, and pikes 
of the English, but in spite of their crude armament, 
succeeded in putting the invaders to rout. The English 
were forced to their boats, and raced down the river to 
the open sea with the fleet of war canoes hard upon them. 
The darts of the Krumen had done their work, for seven 
Englishmen were severely wounded in the struggle. 
The number of Kru casualties was never computed. 
So ended the first inter-racial battle on Liberian soil. 

Baker and his companions again landed on the coast 
of Liberia, but engaged in no more affrays with the in¬ 
habitants. Theirs was a voyage of almost continual 
excitement, for it had begun with a successful sea-fight 
against a French pirate, and ended with their being 
marooned on Liberian soil, when their ships departed 
without them. Nine of these Englishmen found them¬ 
selves on a Liberian river, with no means of escape by 
sea. After many hardships, they succeeded in reaching 
the Gold Coast, where the Portuguese received them with 
the utmost cruelty. They put up a stiff battle against 
their oppressors, and succeeded in escaping to sea again. 
Finally, they landed through the mountain-high surf 
on the shores of an unknown Negro kingdom. Here, in 
spite of the fact that they were treated with the greatest 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


23 


kindness, six of the party died of fever. After some time, 
the three survivors were taken on board a French vessel, 
and thence to France. 

In accordance with the usual custom of that country, 
they were held in captivity for ransom. In the end the 
trio, of which Baker was a member, safely returned to 
England. 


CHAPTER VII 


Afkican Pkoducts 

According to the tales of the Norman traders, whose 
reported visitation to Liberia may or may not be founded 
on fact, the “ uncivilized ” natives were really more 
“ civilized ” at that time than at the present. 1 Portu¬ 
guese records also show that between 1460 and 1560, the 
condition of the tribes along the Liberian seaboard was 
better in that day than in the early nineteenth century, 
when the repeated raids of the slave traders on the 
coastal tribes did much to brutalize and impoverish 
them. 

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, cattle, sheep, 
goats and fowls were common throughout Liberia and 
the neighboring territory of Sierra Leone. Agriculture 
on no mean scale was also practiced by the inhabitants, 
who seem to have been on a much higher plane of civiliza¬ 
tion than were the natives of the hinterland of Portuguese 
Guinea, or the denizens of the Ivory Coast, who were 
cannibals. 

Products which the natives of Liberia had for trade 
in those tribes consisted chiefly of gold, pepper, and 
negro slaves, a number of whom came from Senegambia. 
Other articles which the traders greatly desired were 


i In 1460. 


24 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


25 


hides and ivory. The hides were taken from the large 
colonies of seals, which, at that time, had rookeries along 
the Sahara coast between Cape Bojador and the Senegal. 
These were doubtless specimens of Monachus Albiventer, 
and their skins were much in favor with the Portuguese, 
who used to spend great parts of their voyages of ex¬ 
ploration in seal bunting. Indigo and civet perfume 
were also in demand. The former came from the various 
rivers of Guinea, and the scent bags of the civet cat were 
found throughout Liberia as well as in Sierra Leone, and 
along the course of the Senegal River. Civet perfume 
was much used for two centuries, and live civet cats 
were also in much demand. Despite the numbers 
slaughtered, these animals are still prevalent in Liberia 
today. 

The so-called “ Ivory Coast ” produced less ivory 
at that time than did Sierra Leone, Liberia, the Senegal 
and the Gold Coast. During the fifteenth and sixteenth 
centuries, however, the bulk of the ivory brought to the 
coast for purposes of trade originated in either Sierra 
Leone or Northern Liberia. At each trading post, 
native chieftains would quite commonly produce a 
hundred tusks at a time. 

Ostrich feathers, gum, ambergris, and camwood were 
also common articles of trade. The latter produces 
vivid crimson dye, and for three centuries was in much 
demand among the European peoples. 


CHAPTER VIII 


Arts and Crafts in Early Liberia 

Arts and crafts of the Liberian natives during the early 
explorations consisted of the weaving of cotton fabrics, 
and work in iron, copper, bronze and brass. The crafts¬ 
men in bronze reached their greatest fame in still virtu¬ 
ally unknown Benin City, which produced remarkable 
portraits on bronze. The latter metal was introduced 
into West Africa by the Portuguese, who used it to supple¬ 
ment the common trade articles of mirrors, beads, brace¬ 
lets, kettles and blankets. The amazing and interesting 
sculptural art of Benin is presumed to be entirely Negro, 
without Egyptian influence. 

Astonishing as it may seem, it was not the European 
nations who sent cotton to Liberia at that time, for the 
Africans actually exported their cotton fabrics to Portu¬ 
gal. To Islam is due the credit for introducing the art 
of spinning and weaving to Africa, for as the Moham¬ 
medan tide of invasion swept steadily southward, the 
Arabs divulged the secret of cloth manufacture, which 
they had learned in India or other countries of the Far 
East. From the banks of the Niger, the knowledge of 
cotton fabrication spread to the regions about the 
Senegal, and then into Guinea. Several species of the 
genus Gossypium (cotton) are common to almost all 
26 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


27 


parts of Liberia, and in cultivated form are much like 
the varieties grown by the American Indians before the 
white men arrived. Small quantities of American cot¬ 
ton were brought home by Columbus in 1493, when in 
Africa, the kings, chiefs and headmen of Liberia were 
wearing short robes of colored cloth. 

At the present time, spinning and weaving in Liberia 
has been greatly curtailed by the importation of print 
goods from England and Spain. Copper is today found 
in the rocks of Liberia, but the natives have never shown 
a disposition to work it, as other tribes in different 
regions of the Dark Continent have done. 

Iron, however, had been worked by the natives for 
centuries before the white men came, as the various 
tribes were obliged to fabricate their war spears as well as 
more peaceful implements. 

In the northern and western regions of Liberia the 
Mohammedans introduced horses to the country, the 
terrain in the plateau country being especially suited 
to stock raising. On the seaboard, horses from Portugal 
were brought on some of the first expeditions. Various 
early explorers, however, comment on the fact that the 
Liberians had an indigenous breed of their own. 

Pigs were also imported by the Portuguese, for aside 
from Abyssinia and Sennar, there are no species of wild 
pig in Tropical Africa. The Potamochoerus, the red 
bush or river pig of Central Africa, is in some degree 
akin to the English domestic pig, and has been interbred 
with the latter by the natives. This interbreeding has 


28 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


been most successful, for the red river pigs are easily 
domesticated, sometimes even to the extent of being 
regarded as pets in native households. 

The question of sugar is a rather complicated one. 
The cane is supposedly not indigenous to Liberia, and 
was first introduced either by the Mohammedan tribes, 
who brought horses and rice into the country, or by the 
Portuguese. 

Before their trading expeditions to West Africa had 
been continued for a century their caravels imported 
the sugar-cane from Brazil. Several other and authenti¬ 
cated accounts state that sugar-cane was indigenous to at 
least some portion of northwest Africa, and that the 
Spaniards came to the Dark Continent for sugar-cane 
to introduce in Hayti during the sixteenth century. 
But from whatever source it came, the cane was growing 
in Liberia by the seventeenth century. 

It seems that European trade with the Liberian coast 
was not an unmixed blessing, for the white men not only 
introduced to West Africa all the diseases of Europe, 
but kidnapped, cheated and corrupted the blacks all 
along the sea coast. They taught nothing of the indus¬ 
trial arts, and the influence of the missionaries was weak. 
The Portuguese fathers apparently taught neither reading 
nor writing, but it is everlastingly to their credit that 
they protested against the slave trade. 

On the credit side of the ledger is the stimulus given 
to native agriculture by the bringing of cultivated plants 
to the Negro, and also the introduction of various domes- 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


29 


tic animals of value for interbreeding and stock-raising 
purposes. 

The traders, sailors, soldiers, and captains, who 
daringly sailed up and down one of the worst coasts in 
the world in tiny vessels, were obviously all adventurers, 
and quick-thinking, and often quick-tempered men. 
They are also described as being intensely religious in 
their speech, though not in all their principles or actions. 


CHAPTER IX 


The Dutch in Liberia 

In that day, the Dutch were rated as seamen second 
only to the English, and therefore, while the British 
mariners were coasting down the Liberian seaboard, 
the Dutch had snatched Arguin Island and another 
islet near Cape Verde from the French. Seventy-seven 
years later the French came back into power, and re¬ 
captured and renamed their lost possessions, but during 
those seventy-seven years, the Dutch were no mean fac¬ 
tors in the West African trade. 

Gold was, of course, the lure of first importance to the 
Hollanders, although their tall ships periodically visited 
the Grain Coast to obtain pepper. Indeed the coast 
probably took its name from the Dutch word “ grain,” 
which has the same meaning as its English equivalent. 

Two voyages of note were made in 1611 and 1614 
by one Samuel Braun, a Swiss in the Dutch service. 
Braun’s initial trip to the Cameroons, the Congo and 
Angola was so successful that he brought back to Hol¬ 
land a thousand pounds of gold and two tons of ivory. 

This success called for another trip, so in 1616, he 
again left Holland for the Ivory or “ Qua Qua ” coast 
and called at Cape Mount, the Cestos River, and the 
Kru coast in Liberia. His opinion of the Liberian na- 
30 











* 


* 






Dr. Edward 


W. Blyden 




























HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


31 


lives may have been prejudiced by some treatment he 
received, for he says concerning them: 

“ The natives are cruel and bad people, though in 
some places better than others, according to the way in 
which foreign nations coming there to trade have treated 
them. 

Yet one nation is agreeable to them and beloved more 
than others, — the French — who for such a long time 
have frequented and travelled in this district. The 
Portuguese in these present times come here but seldom. 
Our Dutch nation is at one place more agreeable than 
others; but from time to time, we have made ourselves 
disliked by our rough ways, so that the Moors often try 
to take their revenge on us.” 

Braun bought much rice in the Grain Coast, and bar¬ 
tered coral beads for pepper. His two voyages were 
admirably described by Hulsius, the historian, in 1620. 

While the Dutch came for trade purposes, they ap¬ 
parently were more interested in the different tribes of 
the country than were either the French or Portuguese. 
A most comprehensive work on this subject by Dr. O. 
Dapper, a Hollander, was published in Amsterdam in 
1686. It proved an African geography of no small 
value, and was printed in both Flemish and French. 
Dapper tells us that then, as now, the Yai tribe wasamong 
the most powerful, and at that time formed the ruling 
class of Liberia. 

The language of the coast tribes was that of the Folgia 
people, and its dialects included the Quoja, Gebbe and 


32 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


Gola or Gora tongues. The Folgia, who seem to have 
had some connection with the Kru tribe, were extremely 
war-like, and fights between them and the Vai people 
were continuously going on. 

Throughout his geography, Dapper adheres strictly 
to native place names, of which the Mafu River and the 
Kondo tribe are modern survivals. In the south, as 
today, lived the various Kru tribes: The De, Basa, Gibi 
Grebo, etc. 

The researches of Benjamin Anderson in 1868 dis¬ 
close that even at that late date the tribal regions had not 
changed notably. He regards the “ Folgia ” race as 
having been akin to the Kru people, and the Mambas 
also to the Kru, through the De and Basa tribes. The 
Gora tribe are the indigenes. Of the present tribes, 
the Vai, Mende, and Mandingo are Mohammedans. The 
Mandingoes have an almost European cast of feature, 
and as a rule, the indigenes of Liberia are handsome and 
well-proportioned Negroes. 

Ivory has succeeded pepper as the leading article of 
trade at the Cestos River, which seems to have been a 
calling station for the Dutch vessels. A now unknown 
town or trading-post mentioned many times in Dapper’s 
account is Petit Dieppe, the location of which was near 
the present Grand Basa. It was apparently of inferior 
importance to the river Cestos, which was the headquar¬ 
ters and leading port for the entire pepper trade. 

The Dutch sailors were amazed at the stature of the 
Grebo and Mandingo men and classed them as “ giants.” 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


33 


Dapper enumerates many of their feats of strength and 
devotes some space to the history of the Karou,or modern 
Kru peoples, who conquered the warlike and powerful 
Vai tribes under the leadership of their chiefs, Sokwalla 
and Sonikerri. First the Folgia went down before the 
all-conquering Kru chieftains, and then the Gora and 
Kwoya peoples were conquered. 

The almost whirlwind advance of the Krus continued 
into Sierra Leone, and ended with the victory over the 
Dogo and Gibi tribes of the interior. Today, the Krus 
are the seamen, not only of Liberia, but of the entire 
West Coast, and form a large proportion of the sailors 
employed on vessels in tropic waters. 

The next authentic account of Liberian natives is 
given by John Snoek, who sailed past the Grain Coast in 
a yacht. According to him, ivory was already becoming 
less abundant along the coast. Snoek also says that at 
that time the coast women were “ nearly and sometimes 
quite naked,” although the natives around Cape Mount 
wore the Mohammedan garments of the Mandingoes. 
He describes the inhabitants as being most hospitable, 
and writes that near the present site of Monrovia the 
natives lived fifty or sixty in one large house, divided 
into two or three apartments. In spite of these rather 
crowded conditions, guests were welcomed in these 
“ hotels,” as the majority of the coast peoples were ex¬ 
tremely friendly to whoever visited their country. 

The slave trade had just commenced, and its primary 
cause is described as having been the almost incessant 


34 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


warfare between the coast and interior tribes. Which¬ 
ever party was victorious, was always ready to sell the 
prizes of war to white traders. 

At this time, however, the slave trade, and inciden¬ 
tally the warfare, was stopped of necessity, when the 
great plague of 1626 swept over the country. That 
particular epidemic was caused by dysentery, which was 
introduced into Sierra Leone by a Dutch trading vessel, 
and ravaged that country and Northern Liberia for three 
years. 

Smallpox had already become common in the country, 
and attained epidemic proportions at various times. 

During Snoek’s voyage, the most powerful king in 
the country was Mendi Manou, a Mandingo chief, who 
had not adopted the practice of being called by a Euro¬ 
pean name. This was so common that Peters, Johns 
and Jamses were found all over the coast. The “ court ” 
language was a mixed dialect of Portuguese and English. 




















I 









* 

















* 












v 


•* 




„• * % 






































































. Simpson President Joseph J. Roberts 














CHAPTER X 


Snoek’s Description of Liberia. The Chevalier 
des Marchais 

So high were the houses built about the trading-post 
at the mouth of the Cestos, that they could be seen from 
three miles out at sea. These were built with three or 
four stories, and were higher than any others along the 
coast. 

In those days the Cavalla River formed the boundary 
line of civilization. On the Cape Palmas side lived the 
partially-civilized Krumen, and on the other, the canni¬ 
bal tribes of the Ivory Coast. To the East of the river, 
the natives adopted the custom of sharpening their 
front teeth to a point, probably to give an appearance of 
great ferocity. 

At the time of Snoek’s visit, the Liberian throne was 
held by one of a long line of Captain Peters; as that 
name was for some time common to the regents of 
Mesurado. Trading in those days was fraught with 
considerable danger when dealing with the Dutch and 
English. Both the Europeans and the natives were 
armed and hostages were exchanged. 

Exactly opposite methods were used by the French, 
who renewed their commerce with Liberia in the seven¬ 
teenth century. The trading was done with no precau- 
35 


36 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


tions on the part of the French, and on the other hand, 
the natives visited French vessels without hesitation, 
and there was a feeling of trustfulness on each side. 

By this practice of dealing with the tribes, and treating 
the natives as valued friends, the French obtained a 
mighty and far-reaching hold over the West Coast. 

In the eighteenth century, the colonial policies of 
France and Holland were almost allied, and French 
vessels began to call at the Dutch trading-posts. To 
ascertain whether or not it would be profitable to 
colonize the interior of Senegambia, France sent out 
the Chevalier des Marchais in 1725. He brought back 
to France a very complete description not only of 
the conditions for colonization and trade, but also an 
interesting and valuable account of the customs of the 
natives of Liberia and Sierra Leone. 

He says: “ The religion of the natives of Mesurado is 
a kind of idolatry, ill understood, and blended with a 
number of superstitions, to which, however, few of them 
tenaciously cling. They easily change the object of 
their worship and consider their fetishes only as a 
kind of household furniture. The sun is the most 
general object of their adoration; but it is a voluntary 
worship, and attended with no magnificent ceremonies, 
as was the case of the Aztecs in Mexico. 

“ In the space of a few leagues are many villages 
swarming with children. They practice polygamy, and 
their women are very prolific. Besides, as those people 
deal no further in slaves than by selling their convicted 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


37 


criminals to the Europeans, the country is not depopu¬ 
lated like those in which princes continually traffic in 
their subjects. The purity of the air, the goodness of 
the water, and the abundance of every necessary of 
life all contribute to people this country. 

“ The natives are of large size, strong, and well pro¬ 
portioned. Their men are bold and martial, and their 
neighbors have often experienced their intrepidity, as 
well as those Europeans who attempted to injure them. 
They possess genius, think justly, speak correctly, know 
their own interests, and, like their ancient friends the 
Normans, recommend themselves with address and 
even with politeness. Their lands are carefully culti¬ 
vated, they do everything with order and regularity, and 
they labor vigorously when they choose. 

“ Their friendship is constant ; yet their friends must 
beware of making free with their wives, of whom they 
are very jealous. But they are not so jealous with re¬ 
spect to their daughters, who have an unbounded 
liberty, which is so far from impeding their marriage 
that a man is pleased at finding that a woman has some 
independence. Her lover is obliged to give her parents 
a present when he marries her. They tenderly love their 
children, and a sure and quick way to gain their friend¬ 
ship is to caress their little ones and to make them trifling 
presents. 

“ Their houses are very neat. The kitchens are some¬ 
what elevated above the ground, and of a square or 
oblong figure; three sides are walled up, and the fourth 


38 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


side is left open, being that from which the wind does not 
commonly blow. They place their posts in a row, and 
cement them together with a kind of fat, red clay, which 
without any mixture of lime makes a strong and durable 
mortar. Their bed chambers are raised three feet above 
the ground. This would seem to indicate that the 
country is marshy or sometimes inundated, but this is 
by no means the case. The soil is dry, and they take 
care to build their houses beyond the reach of the greatest 
floods, but experience has taught them that this eleva¬ 
tion contributes to health, by securing them from the 
damps caused by the copious dews. 

“ The women work in the fields, and kindly assist one 
another. They bring up their children with great care, 
and have no other object but to please their husbands. 
The men, much like most men of the orient, work but 
little. 

“ The extent of King Peter’s dominions towards the 
north and northeast is not well known; but from the 
number of his soldiers, there is reason to believe it is 
considerable. The eastern boundary is the river Junco, 
about twenty leagues from Cape Mesurado, and the 
western is a little river, about half way from Cape Mount. 

“ The country is extremely fertile. The natives have 
gold among them; but whether found in this country 
or brought thither in the course of trade is not precisely 
known. The country produces fine redwood, and a 
quantity of other beautiful and valuable woods. Sugar 
cane, Indigo, and cotton grow without cultivation. 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


39 


The tobacco would be excellent if the people were skilful 
in curing it. Elephants, and consequently ivory, are 
more numerous than the natives wish; for these cum¬ 
brous animals very much injure their corn fields, not¬ 
withstanding the hedges and ditches with which they 
so carefully fence them. The frequent attacks of 
lions and tigers hinder not their cattle from multiply¬ 
ing rapidly; and their trees are laden with fruit, in 
spite of the mischief done to them by the monkey tribe. 
In a word, it is a rich and plentiful country, and well 
situated for commerce, which might be carried on here 
to any extent by a nation beloved like the French; for 
no nation must think of establishing themselves here by 
force.” 

The result of King Peter’s having given Bushrod 
Island, in the estuary of the St. Paul’s, to the Chevalier 
des Marchais was that he formulated a scheme for the 
establishment of a French colony at Cape Mesurado. 
This was laid before the Senegal Company, and if it had 
been carried out, a French settlement might have com¬ 
pletely anticipated Liberia. The Chevalier, after care¬ 
ful consideration of the actual plateau on which Monro¬ 
via is now built, wrote: “ Clay fit for bricks abounds 
everywhere, and even stone proper for ashlar work. 
Building timber grows on the spot, and the common 
country provisions are extremely cheap. Except wine, 
brandy, and wheat flour, which the company must 
supply, everything else is to be had on the spot. Beef, 
mutton, goats, and hogs cost little, and game abounds. 


40 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


Antelopes and deer graze quietly with the tame cattle 
in the meadows. There are many species of birds. 
The basin (i. e. the lagoon), the rivers, and the sea afford 
plenty of fish and turtles. No river on the coast is as 
much frequented by the sea-horses as the Mesurado. 
The flesh of these animals is good, and their teeth are 
whiter and harder than those of the elephant.” 

Unfortunately for France, the Chevalier’s scheme of 
colonization was frowned upon. 

From the very first, French travellers showed more 
interest in the condition of the natives than did the other 
trading nations. Grandpierre was so impressed by 
his exploration of the River Cestos in 1726, that he wrote 
concerning it: 

“ My ambition is to be powerful and rich enough to 
fit out a large fleet, filled with able and intelligent people, 
to make a conquest of this fine country, and change 
its nature by introducing the best social laws and 
knowledge.” 

Evidently the system of Grandpierre as regards treat¬ 
ment of the natives was not followed out, for in 1730, 
English slave-traders reported that there was not a single 
European trader left on the Northern Coast of Liberia. 
The cause of this was the practice of kidnapping by 
Dutch and English, which had left the natives so hostile 
that the coast was unsafe for any white man. 

For twenty years in the early part of the eighteenth 
century, these northern shores of Liberia were nests of 
pirates. Both Spanish and English buccaneers preyed 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


41 


about equally on the commerce by sea and the natives 
by land. 

The slave trade brought countless European expedi¬ 
tions to the West Coast throughout the seventeenth and 
eighteenth centuries, and while the Dutch built up a 
large and profitable trade in slaves, they oddly enough 
preferred dealing for natives on the Gold Coast, leaving 
the Grain Coast entirely to the French, English and 
Spaniards. It was long after the slave trade was over, 
and indeed but a few years after the establishment of 
Liberia as a Republic that the Hollanders came back. 
At present the Dutch commercial houses are among the 
most respected in the country. 

Natives of two European countries, Sweden and Den¬ 
mark, at different times, advocated settlements on Capes 
Mesurado and Mount. The Swede, Ulrik Norden- 
skiold, wished to develop sugar plantations, and the 
Dane, J. Rask, declared that there was an abundance of 
gold in the country between the two capes. 

At this time, however, the slave trade was the leading 
consideration of the four great trading countries, and 
neither of their schemes bore fruit. For several reasons, 
Liberia felt the slave trade only lightly. In the first 
place, the natives of the Kru coast did not prosper 
in slavery, and refused to work under such conditions. 
Therefore, they and their savage neighbors on the Ivory 
Coast were largely left alone. Northern Liberia was 
much more infested with slavers. 


CHAPTER XI 


The Beginnings of the Slave Trade 

As the slave trade was largely instrumental in the 
formation of the Liberian Republic, it should be con¬ 
sidered at least in its relation to the countries of northwest 
Africa. Oddly enough, the church was in large measure 
responsible for the' action of the slavers in bringing 
Negroes from Africa to America. 

Since the natives of the Antilles did not prosper under 
the treatment of the Spaniards, the Bishop of Chiapa 
in Hispaniola (Haiti), Bartholomew de las Casas, came 
to Spain in 1517, and protested to the Emperor Charles 
V against the cruel methods taken to subjugate the West 
Indian indigenes. 

He proposed that the West African coast Negroes 
should be imported directly into the West Indies as 
slaves. As this was in thorough agreement with the 
previous plans of the young emperor, he very graciously 
agreed to the proposition. He could well do so, for a 
year before he had “ licensed ” certain Flemish cour¬ 
tiers to ravage the West African coast for slaves. 

One of the largest contracts entered into was with a 
follower of the court, Lebrassa, who was to supply each 
year four thousand Negroes to the Spanish Islands in 
the West Indies. Lebrassa sold his rights to a merchant 
42 



African Musicians 



Wash Day of the Aborigines 



























HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


43 


of Genoa, who in turn contracted with the Portuguese 
for the supply of blacks. 

On account of the Papal Bull of Pope Alexander VI, 
issued in 1493, and described as an order of “ Demarca¬ 
tion,” the Spaniards were prevented from invading 
Portuguese territory on the West Coast, and were thus 
obliged to secure their slaves through the Portuguese 
traders. 

As the time went on, they required more and more 
slaves for work in the mines of Haiti, but the trade did 
not attain much proportion until the last of the six¬ 
teenth century. This was in spite of the fact that as 
early as 1510, King Ferdinand of Spain was buying 
slaves from the Portuguese, who obtained them on the 
Liberian seaboard. They were sent to San Domingo, 
where even in 1502 African slaves were hard at work. 
Most of these early arrivals had been converted to 
Christianity. 

Soon after the trade began, the English became the 
worst offenders in slavery. The first British conces¬ 
sion for Negro slaves to be exported to the West Indies 
was taken up by Sir John Hawkins in 1562. Hawkins, 
who was a famous seaman, besides being a privateer 
and something of a pirate, made three voyages to the 
region between the Gambia and Northern Liberia. 
He obtained many slaves from Sierra Leone. 

On the third and last of these voyages, the man who 
became the most famous admiral^England everjiad, 
Francis Drake, who was then about twenty years of 


44 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


age, was included in the ship’s company. Drake had 
virtually been adopted by his kinsman, Hawkins, and 
this was the first of several voyages they made together. 
Liberia was largely spared by Hawkins, who, on one 
voyage, collected more than two hundred slaves at 
Elmina by joining in a tribal war. 

Other British traders periodically descended on the 
Liberian seaboard, and made slaves of whatever natives 
they could find. Indeed in the eighteenth century, the 
English were so hated all up and down the Gold Coast, 
that one man was obliged to represent himself as a 
Frenchman, when his expedition visited Liberia. 

In his writings concerning the Grain Coast, the afore¬ 
mentioned Chevalier des Marchais states that, in this 
region, the natives readily turned from human sacrifices 
to selling their captives into slavery, when they dis¬ 
covered the profit which could be made. 

After the year 1730, not one European dared remain 
in any part of Liberia, so hostile were the natives. 
Added to all the ravagers of the Liberian coast, rivers 
and marches, were the English and Spanish pirates, 
who again and again scudded to and from their landing 
places in the search for slaves. 

After a time in the early part of the eighteenth cen¬ 
tury, the risks taken by these buccaneers in penetrating 
the Liberian hinterland became so great, that they en¬ 
tirely abandoned the Grain Coast, and turned their at¬ 
tentions to Sierra Leone, the Dahomey Coast (also known 
as the Slave), the Niger delta, Old Calabar, Loango 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


45 


and the Congo District. The latter region and the 
mouth of the Niger suffered the most from the ravages 
of the slavers. 

In addition to the risks involved in landing on the 
Liberian Coast, the slaves secured in this section never 
brought high prices in the slave market. The Yais 
were Mohammedans, and were too proud to labor under 
a slave-driver, while the Des and Basa did not flourish 
in captivity, and frequently died on the voyages. On 
the other hand, the Krus, while excellent fighters and 
well content to carry on a slave trade of their own, vio¬ 
lently objected to personal slavery, and, indeed, pre¬ 
ferred suicide to enforced labor in the West Indies or 
America. 

From the very first, European advocates of the slave 
trade were prolific in arguments as to how slavery bene¬ 
fited its victims. The contention of many English and 
Continental writers of the seventeenth century, that 
servitude gave the blacks an excellent opportunity to 
become civilized as well as to embrace the Christian 
religion, does not hold water. 

Strange as it may seem, the sanitary arrangements 
in the various West African coast towns were equal to 
those of Europe. Their cooking was even more appetiz¬ 
ing than that prevailing on the Continent, and in respect 
to clothing (taking the climate into consideration), they 
were quite on a level with the people of England and 
Europe. Their apparently inherent good taste in dress 
was even more pronounced than it now is, and agricul- 


46 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


ture, in like manner, seems to have been much more 
advanced and extended than at the present time. Live 
stock raising was also more developed than now. 

One nation alone furnished no apologists for its slave¬ 
trading activities. It is to the credit of the Dutch that 
they indulged in no sanctimonious humbug about civiliz¬ 
ing or “ Christianizing ” the slaves. They regarded the 
whole affair as a mere commercial transaction, and in¬ 
dulged in no religious or moral propaganda whatever. 

They were far superior to all the other nations in the 
methods and conditions of their overseas transport, 
though they seem to have had little regard for their 
charges afterward. On the other hand, the Portuguese 
who are reputed to have given the best all-around treat¬ 
ment to their slaves, began by kidnapping the Negroes 
from coast villages instead of buying them, and trans¬ 
ported them under extremely bad conditions. 

However, once in the Portuguese possessions, the cap¬ 
tives were made into Roman Catholics, and were well 
treated to a fault. No ignominious servitude nor cruel 
treatment was accorded them. Despite their reputation 
for exacting hard labor from their Negroes, the almost 
fanatical religious sense that animated the Spaniards 
assured the slaves in their colonies of at least fair treat¬ 
ment. Third in respect of kindliness to slaves were the 
Danes, whose trading was done in a comparatively 
small way. 

The French and English footed the list, and yet it 
was English-speaking people who began the campaign 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


47 


against slavery and the slave trade. This, at first highly 
unpopular movement, was sponsored by the Quakers. 
Their first move towards abolition was contained in an 
anti-slavery address of George Fox in Barbadoes. 

The Protestants, and more particularly the Non¬ 
conformists, next fell into line, and feeling grew so high 
among the Lutherans of Germany, Denmark, and Swe¬ 
den, that in 1792 the Danes officially renounced the slave 
trade. Their stand was followed by similar action by 
the United States two years later, by Great Britain in 
1807, Sweden in 1813, Holland in 1814, and France in 
1815-18. 

Carl Berns Wadstrom, a citizen of Sweden, in 1787, 
wrote in his Essay on Colonization, an excellent and 
truthful account of one Ormond, who may be taken as 
a fair example of the slave trader of 1790. He says: 

“ The following is a sketch of the origin, progress, 
and end of a European slave trader who lately died at an 
island near Sierra Leone, and who seems to have at¬ 
tained to a degree of ferocity and hardness of heart pro¬ 
portionate to his success in that bloody traffic. 

“ He went from England about thirty-five years ago 
(i. e. about 1758) as a cabin boy to a slave ship, and was 
retained as an assistant at a slave factory at Sierra Leone 
River. There he acquired a knowledge which qualified 
him for setting up a slave factory afterwards for himself 
in a neighboring part towards the north (Rio Pongo), 
and though unable to write or read, he became an expert 
slave trader, so much so that he realized about $150,000. 


48 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


His cruelties were almost incredible. Two persons who 
seem to have had good means of information give the 
following account of them. One of them, who lived for 
a time near Ormond said he knew it to be a fact that he 
used to tie stones to the necks of his unsaleable slaves, 
and drown them in the river during the night; and that 
his cruelty was not confined to blacks, for, being offended 
by a white agent one Christmas day, when drinking 
freely with some company, he made his slaves tie up the 
European, and gave him, with his own hands, four hun¬ 
dred lashes, from which he died in a few days.” 

Finally, his destruction of a town of the Bagos, a war¬ 
like tribe who lived near his factory, caused a native 
war to be proclaimed against him. His establishment 
was burned to the ground, and his son and adherents 
were put to death. Ormond was at Isle de Los at the 
time, and so escaped. He died about a month later. 


CHAPTER XII 


The Founding of Sierra Leone 

In the year 1786, about four hundred Negro ex-slaves 
from Nova Scotia were sent together with sixty irre¬ 
claimable London prostitutes to Sierra Leone. This 
rather peculiar combination was to begin a new life in, 
and incidentally form, the British colony of Sierra Leone. 

Five years later eleven hundred and thirty-one more 
Nova Scotia blacks were sent out, so successful had the 
British Sierra Leone Company’s sagacious mixture of 
pure philanthropy and shrewd business acumen proved. 
Two years later a French squadron bombarded the 
settlement and destroyed much of it, and in 1807 the 
British rather tardily began to appreciate the strategic 
value of Sierra Leone Harbor, and formed the whole 
into a Crown Colony with a Governor at its head. 

After 1833, when British men-of-war began to swoop 
down on the slavers in an attempt to destroy the entire 
trade, whole ship-loads of freed slaves were literally 
dumped in Sierra Leone, regardless of whatever their 
native country might be. Consequently, about every 
tribe of every country on the West Coast is represented 
among its inhabitants, and from Nyasaland, the Upper 
Congo, the Lower Congo, Bornu, Wadai, Shari, Benue, 
and the Niger, the suddenly freed slaves were deposited 
49 


50 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


in Sierra Leone. They for years manifested a very 
clannish disposition, and Congos and Ibos hated each 
other far more than they ever did the white men. 

Add to this fact that the abundant native population 
of the colony in turn hated almost all the colonists, and 
you have the reason why wars and rumors of wars agi¬ 
tated Sierra Leone for a full hundred years. 

Today the hinterland of Sierra Leone is described as 
“ a country every whit as undeveloped as the Congo 
swamps of Central Africa.” This is not the statement 
of a casual traveller, but is contained in the report of a 
British governor. 

Aside from the Sierra Leone Government railway, 
which is two and a half feet wide and two hundred and 
seventy-seven miles long, there is not much progress 
shown for a century of colonization. 

The railway is the pride of the West Coast, and Free¬ 
town is said to have the best harbor on the entire Guinea 
seaboard, but the constant friction of the various tribes 
has prevented that development which would naturally 
be expected of such a country. 



■ ' '• •• Sgm 5 



































































Jehttdi Ashmun 













I 













f 




















CHAPTER XIII 


Origin and Founding of the Liberian 
Republic 

However, the founding of Sierra Leone was in large 
part responsible for the formation of the Liberian Repub¬ 
lic. Much interest was felt in America concerning the 
work of the British philanthropists during 1794, and this 
interest led for the founding of the American Coloniza¬ 
tion Society in 1816. 

At the end of the eighteenth century slavery was 
becoming less favored in the United States; Vermont 
abolishing the practise in 1777, and most of the Northern 
states following suit. By an act of Congress in 1794, 
American ships were forbidden to participate in the 
slave trade, and in 1808 the importation of African 
slaves into any state was prohibited. 

Washington had freed his slaves, and this created a 
precedent. Many American planters followed his lead, 
and in a short while the problem of what to do with 
the “ free ” black man was looming up before the coun¬ 
try. Alleging that mere freedom in an alien land was 
hardly a great privilege for the African slaves, various 
philanthropists in the United States urged that a system 
of repatriation be adopted. 

It was put forward that not only would this be ade- 
51 


52 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


quate reparation for the injuries done the black race, 
but that inestimable benefits would be conferred on 
Africa by establishing a small nucleus of Christian and 
civilized natives on that continent. 

For these ends the American Colonization Society 
was created in 1816. Both the North and South were 
largely represented; for Elijah Caldwell and Robert 
Finley, whose name has been given to a Liberian moun¬ 
tain range, had proposed the society at a meeting held 
in the Capitol at Washington, and attended by President 
Clay. 

Finley was elected vice-president and Caldwell secre¬ 
tary when the Society was formally constituted. Bush- 
rod Washington occupied the position of president, and 
Francis Key was second vice-president. 

The initial meeting took place one year after 
Richard Allen organized the African Methodist Epis¬ 
copal Church, which ever since that time has been 
interested in Liberian colonization. 

Sierra Leone was first considered as a suitable region 
for Negro emigrants, but the British, who controlled 
the country, did not share in the enthusiasm. In 1818, 
a commission under Mill and Burgess went to Sierra 
Leone and found conditions most favorable. Their 
report impelled three white Americans, Rev. Samuel 
Bacon, John P. Bankson, and Dr. S. Crozer, to start for 
Sierra Leone with eighty-eight Negroes in 1820. 

Upon the arrival of the party on the ship Elizabeth , 
the Governor of Sierra Leone became suspicious that 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


53 


some ulterior motive actuated the colonizing scheme. 
Possibly he may have feared an attempt to raise the 
Stars and Stripes over His Imperial Majesty’s Domin¬ 
ions. At any rate, the reception met by the colonists 
was the forerunner of many succeeding bickerings be¬ 
tween Liberia and Great Britain. 

Macarthy refused to let the emigrants land, claiming 
that there was no room on the Sierra Leone peninsula 
for Bacon’s ex-slaves. Therefore, the Elizabeth sailed 
off to find another spot as favorable for inaugurating 
the experiment of colonization. 

She took a southward course, and a landing was 
effected on Sherbro Island. Here an attempt was made 
to start a settlement or trading post, but the land proved 
so unhealthy that in a few weeks all the whites and 
twenty-two of the black settlers had succumbed to 
tropical fever of a most virulent type. As the leaders 
were dead, Daniel Coker and Rev. Elijah Johnson took 
entire command of the diminished party and returned to 
Fura Bay in Sierra Leone to wait for assistance. 

In a short period of time the United States brig, 
Nautilus , scudded into Fura Bay and dropped anchor. 
On board were Rev. Ephraim Bacon and his wife, and 
Joseph Andrus, J. B. Winn and Christian Wiltberger. 
A small number of Negro colonists were included in the 
ship’s company, and stores and provisions were also 
brought. These proved more than welcome to the first 
expedition, which was still marooned in Fura Bay. 

Then the question again arose as to a proper spot for 


54 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


colonization. Cape Mesurado was, of course, regarded 
as the best site, but the local chiefs did not at all wel¬ 
come the idea. After that project was given up, a 
landing was made at Grand Basa, where the natives 
proved more friendly. 

The climate was poor, however, and Bacon, Winn and 
Andrus were forced to return to America after a bout 
with fever. Back again came Captain Stockton, who 
commanded the Elizabeth, with Dr. Eli Ayres. After 
the latter’s arrival, Wiltberger took command of the 
expedition, while Ayres and Stockton returned to Cape 
Mesurado. 

Andrus was already there, and was busily dickering 
with the native chiefs concerning land purchases. 
He had no success, but the intercession of John Mill, 
a mulatto trader, materially assisted Ayres and Stock- 
ton in their negotiations with the De chief. 

For an astounding price, one hundred and thirty 
miles of seacoast was purchased. This strip of land was 
to be everywhere forty miles broad, and was forever 
reserved for the settlement of American freed slaves. 

On December 15th, 1821, the bargain was struck. 
The future site of Monrovia was also included in the 
transaction, and it must be admitted that the De and 
Mamba chiefs, Peter, George, Yoda, and Long Peter, 
got the worst end of an extremely bad bargain. For this 
large tract of land Ayres paid to the chiefs about fifty 
dollars’ worth of trade goods. They were as follows: 
Six muskets, one small barrel of powder, six iron bars, 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


55 


ten iron pots, one barrel of beads, two casks of tobacco, 
twelve knives, twelve forks and twelve spoons, one small 
barrel of nails, one box of tobacco pipes, three looking- 
glasses, four umbrellas, three walking-sticks, one box of 
soap, one barrel of rum, four hats, three pairs of shoes, 
six pieces of blue baft, three pieces of white calico. 
In addition, the purchasers bound themselves to pay 
when they could: six iron bars, twelve guns, three barrels 
of powder, twelve plates, twelve knives, twelve forks, 
twenty hats, five barrels of salt beef, five barrels of salt 
pork, twelve barrels of ships’ biscuit, twelve glass de¬ 
canters, twelve wineglasses, and fifty pairs of boots. 

This promised payment, was, however, never made, 
and the Mesurado chiefs complained long and loudly. 
Some of their complaints took the shape of spears and 
poisoned darts. Whatever they thought they were 
bargaining for, they certainly did not realize that they 
were selling their country. 

Probably the colonists justified the ridiculous bargain 
by the thought that they would never expel the natives 
from their holdings. As might be expected from such 
a one-sided transaction, trouble at once began. Bushrod 
Island was the bone of contention, and here the natives 
gained the first victory. 

This small tract of fertile land lying between the St. 
Paul’s River, Stockton Creek and Mesurado Bay was 
much desired as a place for settlement by the colonists. 
The natives objected and fiercely prevented the Afro- 
Americans from landing. After this initial disappoint- 


56 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


ment and defeat, the eighty Negro and two white colon¬ 
ists set up a small settlement on Perseverance Island. 
This was an islet, low and unhealthy, in Mesurado 
Lagoon. The one settlement on the island, Kingstown, 
was formed by the factory of John Mill, the mulatto 
slaver. Again he aided the colonists in various ways, 
and thereby perpetuated his name, which is found in 
Millsburg, a town on the St. Paul’s River. 

Disheartened by the repeated failures attending the 
expedition, Ayres proposed to again attempt a settle¬ 
ment at Sierra Leone. Fortunately for Liberia, Wilt- 
berger favored building on the high land of the Mesurado 
Cape. His project was strongly supported by Elijah 
Johnson, whose impassioned speech in answer to Ayres, 
“Two years long have I sought a home; here I have found 
one, here I remain! ” is famous in the annals of Liberia. 

Faithful to his plan, Ayres left for Sierra Leone, and 
the energetic Wiltberger assumed sole command of the 
party. He daringly led his handful of colonists into the 
Mesurado Cape, and hurriedly felled trees and made 
slight fortifications. In a short time, his exertions 
brought on fever, which forced him to return home. 
Then it was Johnson’s turn to assume leadership. 
Eighty men, women and children formed the party. 
Of that number only half were capable of bearing arms. 
Yet Johnson was a born commander and master strate¬ 
gist. He knew that it was impossible for his companions 
to spend the rainy season in the marshes of Perseverance 
Island, and so adopted Wiltberger’s idea. 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


57 


With armed men guarding the workers a site for the 
future Monrovia was swiftly cleared, while the natives 
again and again “ sniped ” with light spears and darts 
from the cover of the jungle. Each day their attacks 
grew more fierce, and finally became extremely serious. 
At this juncture, a British frigate appeared off the coast. 

The commander of this vessel had been attracted by 
the spasmodic fighting, and offered to help Johnson repel 
the natives — at a price. The condition was that a 
small piece of land should be ceded to Great Britain, 
on which the British flag should be raised. Forced to 
choose between the aggressions of the natives and the 
aggressions of England, Johnson refused pointblank. 
At once the frigate spread canvas and sailed away, 
leaving the natives and the colonists still fiercely skir¬ 
mishing. 

A lull in the fighting came in the rainy season, which 
also brought the American brig Strong from Baltimore 
with fifty-three new colonists, sorely needed stores, and, 
best of all, a new director for the colony. He was a 
white man whose name was destined to become famous, 
Jehudi Ashmun of Champlain, New York State. He 
was first and last a man of action, and the American 
Colonization Society had hit upon him in their search 
for a man to take charge of their so far unsuccessful 
settlements on Cape Mesurado. 

Jehudi Ashmun came of New England Puritan stock. 
His father was Samuel Ashmun, a well-to-do settler. 
Jehudi was the third son out of ten children, and was 


58 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


born April 21st, 1794. He grew up at the time and 
in surroundings when Methodist Christianity in the 
United States was at its height. 

After his conversion at the age of seventeen, Ashmun 
trained himself for the ministry in the Episcopal Church. 
But when not much over twenty he accepted the posi¬ 
tion of professor at a college. About this time he made 
the acquaintance of a young woman, also a teacher, for 
whom he conceived a certain attachment. 

They were soon afterwards married. He was ordained, 
and offered himself as a missionary. 

Among the fifty-two Negro settlers who accompanied 
Ashmun, one Rev. Lott Carey was one of the right-hand 
men and foremost founders of the Liberian Republic. 

Carey was a pure-blooded Negro, short, thick set, 
ugly of features, but a man of remarkable natural ability 
and dogged determination. He was a slave employed 
by his owner in Virginia to manage a large store where 
the tobacco of the plantation was kept for sale. He 
married early, and had several children. Between his 
hours of work, he got a little elementary education, so 
that he could read and write. He possessed business 
ability and a remarkable memory, and was so clever and 
upright in his commercial transactions that his master 
again and again rewarded him. Gradually in this way he 
accumulated a sum of money with which to purchase his 
freedom and that of his wife and children. 

Aided by friends he secured his freedom and that of 
his family for eight hundred and fifty dollars in 1815. 






























































































































































* 














































































Ashmun Street, Monrovia 











































































HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


59 


From his originally scanty education, he succeeded in 
qualifying himself for the ministry. Repatriation in¬ 
tensely interested him from the start, and it was only 
natural that he should be chosen to assist Ashmun. 


■o 


CHAPTER XIY 


The Settlement of Monrovia 

For several months twenty out of the thirty-five 
who composed Liberia’s first army had to remain on 
guard every night. Ashmun was as prompt in organiza¬ 
tion as in action, and only a fortnight after his arrival, 
issued a proclamation concerning the status of the 
population. This is here reproduced in its entirety, as it 
was virtually the first “ state document ” issued by the 
Liberians. 

It is as follows: 

(1) The Settlement is under military law. 

(2) Elijah Johnson is Commissary of Stores. 

(3) R. Sampson is Commissary of Ordnance. 

(4) Lott Carey is Health Officer and Government 
Inspector. 

(5) F. James is Captain of the brass mounted field- 
piece, and has assigned to his command R. Newport, 
M. S. Draper, William Meade, and J. Adams. 

(6) A. James is Captain of the Long 18, and has under 
his command J. Benson, E. Smith, William Hollings, 
D. Hawkins, John and Thomas Spencer. 

(7) J. Shaw is Captain of the Southern Picket Station, 
mounting two iron guns. To his command are attached 

60 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


61 


S. Campbell, E. Jackson, J. Lawrence, L. Crook, and 
George Washington. 

(8) D. George is Captain of the Eastern Station, 
mounting two iron guns. Attached to him are A. Ed¬ 
mondson, Joseph Gardiner, Josiah Webster, and J. 
Carey. 

(9) C. Brander is Captain of a carriage mounting two 
swivels to act in concert with brass pieces, and move 
from station to station as the occasion may require; 
attached are T. Tines, L. Butler. 

(10) Every man to have his musket and ammunition 
with him, even when at the large guns. 

(11) Every officer is responsible for the conduct of the 
men placed under him, who are to obey him at their 
peril. 

(12) The guns are all to be gotten ready for action 
immediately, and every effective man is to be employed 
at the pickets. 

(13) Five stations to be occupied by guards at night 
till other orders shall be given. 

(14) No useless firing permitted. 

(15) In case of alarm, every man is to repair instantly 
to his post and do his duty. 

Rain in torrents greatly added to the suffering of the 
colonists, and on September 15, 1822, Mrs. Ashmun 
died of fever. Many colonists also succumbed to that 
malady, which was contracted through the floods of 
rain penetrating their huts. For two months it rained 
daily, and the condition of the colonists grew worse and 


62 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


worse. They were situated on a bit of cleared rocky 
ground, and were hemmed in on one side by dense jungle 
growths, and on the other by the sea. Not only was 
this dismal in the extreme, but it was also unhealthy. 

With the lifting of the rains, still worse fate befell the 
colonists. On November 11th, the combined forces of 
the De, Mamba and Yai tribes began a furious assault 
on the stockade as day broke. The first surge of the 
natives overwhelmed some of the outer defences, and 
many of the colonists fled into the woods. 

Had the savages realized their advantage, they would 
have rushed the palisade in force. As it was, they 
stopped to ransack and plunder the huts and to kill the 
wounded. Ashmun’s strategy caused him to load the 
five guns with common shot, and to fire them pointblank 
into the struggling mass of attackers. 

As Ashmun writes in his diary: “ Eight hundred men 
were here pressed shoulder to shoulder in so compact a 
force that a child might easily walk upon their heads 
from one end of the mass to the other. They presented, 
in their rear, breadth of rank equal to twenty or thirty 
men, and all exposed to a gun of great power, raised on a 
platform at only thirty to sixty yards’ distance. Every 
shot literally spent its force in a solid mass of human 
flesh.” 

To celebrate the victory over the De tribe, Liberia 
has set apart a national holiday which is called “ New 
Port day,” named in honor of Mary New Port who 
on the day of the battle with the Des, when all was 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


63 


lost and Ashmun’s men were about to flee, Mary New 
Port with a live coal from her pipe touched off a cannon 
that fired pointblank into the human mass. The 
others gained heart and in quick succession the five 
cannon were loaded by Ashmun’s men as related 
above. 

Such slaughter at close quarters terrified the natives 
and the entire force fled to the beach and their war 
canoes. 

Although Ashmun ordered a day of thanksgiving, he 
realized that this initial victory was not in the least de¬ 
cisive. Despairing of triumph by storming the palisade, 
the natives laid siege to the little colony, which day by 
day grew smaller in area. Gunpowder, shot, and all 
manner of provisions began to run low, and the situation 
seemed more desperate than ever. Finally, just as 
tragedy stared the settlers in the face, a Liverpool trader 
arrived in the anchorage on November 29th. Its com¬ 
mander, Captain H. Brassey, saved the situation, and 
incidentally Liberia, by giving the distraught colonists 
all the supplies that could be spared from the ship. 

Again on December 1st, the British came to the aid 
of the struggling little colony. On the last day of 
November, the De tribe reappeared at the apex of the 
peninsula, and the next day two thousand picked war¬ 
riors charged the stockade. The steady fire of the 
colonists kept them at bay for several hours. This was 
not accomplished without some casualties. T. Tines 
was killed in the fight, and Gardiner and Crook were 


64 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


severely wounded. Ashmun himself received three 
bullets through his coat, but was uninjured. 

Towards sunset, a British man-of-war swept into the 
harbor. At once the Des fled inland. Startled by the 
noise of gun-firing, the officers of the Prince Regent had 
diverted the ship from its course from Sierra Leone to 
Cape Coast Castle. The captain of this vessel not only 
sent ashore a detachment to ascertain the cause of the 
excitement,but upon hearing of the perils the colony was 
undergoing, sent a Scotch midshipman named Gordon 
and eleven bluejackets to aid the settlers. This ended 
the most critical period in all the history of Liberia. 
Gordon brought many supplies of food and munitions 
of war, which were more than welcome. 

Even greater aid was conveyed by Major Laing, the 
famous African explorer. After a short parley with the 
native chiefs, he made peace between the Americans and 
both the De and Mamba tribes. After this success, 
the Prince Regent shook out canvas and sailed away for 
the Gold Coast. Gordon and the eleven sailors were left 
behind. One by one, eight of the seamen died from 
fever, and finally Gordon himself succumbed. His 
memory is perpetuated in a proposed Gordon Scholar¬ 
ship in Liberia College. 

Undismayed by deaths or by fever, Ashmun ordered 
the houses to be rebuilt outside the palisade. Examples 
of their type of Architecture are today found in the poorer 
sections of Monrovia. They were raised from the ground 
on wooden or stone supports, and had the appearance of 



President Gibson and Prominent Statesmen 









HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


65 


being on stilts. This style of building was a distinct 
novelty to the African Coast, and was probably con¬ 
ceived by either Carey or Johnson. 

To further amicable relations with the natives, a 
trading station was opened. Meanwhile, Ashmun’s 
courage and decision were being made apparent to the 
native chiefs, who called him “ the white American devil 
of Cape Mesurado.” He was greatly aided in 1823 by 
Lieutenant Dashiell of the American warship Cyane. 
Dashiel! supervised and assisted the erection of a much 
stronger fort of stone, on which six cannon were mounted. 

Not satisfied with this provision for the safety of the 
colonists, he went to Sierra Leone, found the schooner 
Augusta , which had been used on an early voyage to 
Liberia, and put it into seaworthy condition. A crew 
of twelve men was installed and the Liberian merchant 
marine was begun. Dashiell, like many other white 
men who dared the climate, soon afterwards died of 
fever. 


CHAPTER XV 


Liberia Named 

Inside the little colony several squabbles over the 
division of land were in full sway, when on May 24th, 
1825, Dr. Eli Ayres returned to Cape Mesurado, fully 
vested with the powers of agent for the American Coloni¬ 
zation Society. Ayres attempted to make a more equal 
allotment of land, but his efforts led to more quarrels 
than before. Finding that he could do practically 
nothing for the little colony, he returned to America and 
Ashmun resumed his position as Director of the Colony. 

From Virginia on board the good ship Cyrus one 
hundred and five fresh colonists came in 1824. With 
this reinforcement, Ashmun felt that he could safely 
leave the little settlement, and so went to Cape Verde 
Island for a rest from his labors. 

The American Government and the Colonization 
Society had recently appointed the Rev. Robert Gurley 
to draw up a provisional constitution for the Mesurado 
colony. While proceeding to the Grain Coast on the 
war vessel Porpoise, he met Ashmun, and the definite 
result was the establishing of the plucky leader both as 
virtual governor of the settlement and as principal agent 
of the American Colonization Society. Gurley after¬ 
wards wrote an extended biography of Ashmun, of whom 
he became a great admirer. 

66 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


67 


Gurley not only drew up a constitution, but on August 
15th adopted the suggestion of Robert Goodowe Harper 
of Baltimore, and named the colony, Liberia, and the 
Mesurado settlement, Monrovia. In true religious fer¬ 
vor, Ashmun had tentatively named the little settle¬ 
ment “ Christopolis,” but readily consented to the 
change. Monrovia was of course named after Monroe, 
then president of the United States. Harper was greatly 
interested in the colonization project, and had suggested 
both his names in the United States Senate. His own 
name was afterwards given to the largest settlement in 
Maryland on Cape Palmas. 

After Gurley’s return to America on August 22, 1824, 
his measures were almost at once approved and ratified 
both by the Colonization Society and the United States 
Government. This ratification was conveyed to Li¬ 
beria by the U. S. S. Hunter, which dropped anchor off 
Monrovia, March 14, 1825. This ship also increased 
the population of the Mesurado Plateau by sixty 
colonists. 

After this success, Ashmun perceived the growth of 
population that would inevitably follow, and began 
buying up strips of land about the seacoast. Bushrod 
Island, that much contested piece of ground, was either 
bought from Old King Peter or from a certain Mary 
Mackenzie, who is said to have been its “ native ” 
owner. Doubtless, she was the mulatto daughter of a 
Scotch trader. 

At any rate Bushrod Island was purchased, but up 


68 HISTORY OF LIBERIA 

to the present time the Liberians have found very little 
use for it. 

By a treaty and alliance with the chiefs Peter, Long 
Peter, Gouverneur, Yoda and Jimmy, on May 11, 1825, 
Ashmun secured the right to colonize along the St. 
Paul’s River up to about twenty miles of its mouth, or 
to the head of navigation. Two settlements were im¬ 
mediately founded near the junction of Stockton Creek 
and the St. Paul’s River. One was named Caldwell in 
honor of Elijah Caldwell of the American Colonization 
Society, and the other, a station called New Georgia, 
set apart for the colonization of freed slaves, who 
might come as refugees. 

This skilful diplomacy much heightened Ashmun’s 
reputation, both in Liberia and in the United States. 
He had not paid all his attention to securing terri¬ 
tory, however, for it is recorded in the annals of the 
Colony that the Liberian volunteers gave a Fourth of 
July dinner, wholly of native products in 1825. 

Some of the native products must have been rather 
heady, for two of the fifty diners were dragged before the 
justice the next day to answer charges of drunkenness 
preferred against them. Many American and British 
guests were present, among the most noted, Captain 
Ferbin, a West Coast trader, who afterward got into 
hot water through minor participation in the slave 
trade. 

Thus in three years, Ashmun had as vigorously de¬ 
veloped agriculture as he had defenses. A very good 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


69 


and abundant food supply had been obtained locally. 
One Sarah Draper, an American colored woman, was the 
horticultural pioneer, and it is recorded that her garden 
produced vegetables the whole year round. 


CHAPTER XVI 


Liberia’s Territorial Acquisitions 

The colony having been definitely established, Ash- 
mun turned his attention to stamping out the slave trade, 
which even in 1825 was much in practice along the lower 
St. Paul’s River. He first concentrated his efforts on 
the Grain Coast, and carefully made treaties with the 
different chiefs, by which he secured rights over various 
pieces of land. His first large purchase was made on 
October 27th, 1825, when the chief Freeman ceded some 
territory about the New Cess River. This later became 
the headquarters of Theodore Canot, one of the most 
noted slave traders. 

Around Cape Mount, Ashmun secured the land where 
powerful Spanish slave trading-stations were established. 
A provision of this treaty, signed on April 12, 1826, was 
that no part of Cape Mount should ever be re-sold to any 
foreign nation. 

Another large purchase was made October 11th of the 
same year, when Chiefs Will, Tom and Peter Harris of 
the Mamba tribe transferred their rights over the terri¬ 
tory about the Junk River and between the Dukwia and 
Farmington to the Liberians. 

Almost exactly a year later, the town of Marshall was 
founded, near the mouth of the Junk. This was named 
70 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


71 


after the chief justice of the United States. Later in 
the same year, the King of Grand Basa, Joe Harris, sold 
to the Liberian colonists the plot of land lying about the 
St. John River and extending southward to the Biso 
River near Point Basa. 

By the accession of all this territory, Liberia now 
possessed indisputable political control to the Grain 
Coast between Cape Mount and Grand Basa, not in¬ 
cluding the territory along the St. Paul's River. 

Ashmun’s success had been so pronounced that King 
Boatswain, a chief of the Mandingos, hastened to enter 
into alliance with the American settlers. On March 
14, 1828, his envoys concluded a treaty with Ashmun. 
This alliance was of no mean importance, for King Boat¬ 
swain reigned over six different tribes gathered into the 
Kondo federation. From his capital at Boporo, he 
directed many of the affairs of the West African Coast, 
and his cession of a part of the hinterland north of Cape 
Mount was a great achievement in Ashmun’s diplomacy. 
Whether the king was able to read his own treaty is 
doubtful, but at any rate, alliance with his powerful 
confederation benefited the colonists to a large extent. 

Near the mouth of the New Cess River, the Spanish 
slave-traders had established a thriving trading-post, 
and against this Ashmun sent an expedition. Three 
American frigates participated in the attack on the 
settlement which was aptly enough named Trade Town. 
Naturally the Spaniards were not desirous of losing their 
flourishing commerce, and put up a most determined 


72 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


resistance to the invaders. As Ashmun and an armed 
party of marines landed on the beach, the frigates bom¬ 
barded the town. In a short time the whole settlement 
caught fire, and the flames spread to a great powder 
magazine. 

Immediately a great explosion occurred, and the blast 
razed nearly every building by its force. For some 
moments the air was full of fragments of houses and 
human beings. 

Notwithstanding this wholesale destruction, all the 
slaving stations were rebuilt, and were again destroyed 
by a British-Liberian expedition in 1842. 

Turning like Cincinnatus from war to peace, Ashmun 
began the development of agriculture in Liberia. He 
introduced and raised new breeds of cattle, sheep, pigs, 
goats, ducks, geese and fowls. Cotton-planting was 
widely encouraged, as was the growing of coffee. 

Sorghum, indigo, sugar-cane, rice and maize were also 
planted in and about Cape Mesurado. 

Fever ravaged the colony periodically, the settle¬ 
ments were flooded by torrents of rain in the wet season, 
and certain of the settlers loudly complained of their lot, 
and yet the colony prospered almost miraculously. 

So fast had been its growth in respect to territory, 
that in 1827, the colored people of America were again 
urged to come to Liberia. Evidently their response was 
enthusiastic, for one year later the population of the 
colony was more than twelve hundred. 

This figure did not include the many freed slaves and 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


73 


natives of the country, who were becoming assimilated 
by the American-Liberians. For about the first time 
since its founding, Liberia seemed to be a success. 

Laws were drawn up in 1824 and, though they were 
rather primitive in construction, they answered every 
purpose of the colonists. In 1824 there also appeared 
the first newspaper, The Liberian Herald , edited by a 
mulatto, John Baptist Russwurm. 

To keep the peace, four companies of militia were 
formed, and numerous churches and schools were 
erected. 

In 1828 Ashmun’s health, which had long shown signs 
of breaking, gave way, and he left the colony for America 
on the ship Doris . So ill was he that he had to be 
landed at one of the British West Indies, as it was feared 
he would die before America was reached. Late in the 
summer his health had sufficiently improved so that he 
was able to leave St. Bartholomew Island for the United 
States. There his health again broke down, and he died 
at New Haven, Conn., on August 25th, 1828. When 
delirious, he described the struggles of the colony, and 
his last words, “ I die, but the Negro will some day be 
great,” were as closely interwoven with the fortunes of 
the colored race as his life had been. 

Before his death, he succeeded in persuading the offi¬ 
cials of the American Colonization Society to give more 
independence to Liberia. He also asked, and was 
accorded, a greater measure of self-government for the 
little colony on the West Coast of Africa. 


74 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


In the fall of 1828 the fruits of his last work became 
apparent in a new arrangement, by which the American 
Colonization Society merely appointed an agent and 
vice-agent to take over the direction of the colony. 
Every other official was to be elected directly by the 
colonists themselves, and then to receive his appoint¬ 
ment from the agent, if the latter approved of the selec¬ 
tion. The vote was given to every adult colored man 
in Liberia who had taken an oath to the constitution. 

Upon Ashmun’s departure from the colony, there had 
been no other white man in Liberia. Therefore he selected 
Lott Carey to succeed him as Director of the colony. 
Lott, however, did not long survive his chief, but was 
killed by an explosion of gun-powder while preparing 
munitions for a fight against a native chief in December, 
1828. 

At Ashmun’s death the American Colonization So¬ 
ciety had appointed another white American, Dr. 
Richard Randall, to be agent. Almost his first notable 
act on arriving in the colony was to found the station of 
Careysburg in memory of Lott Carey. This town is 
situated to the east of Millsburg, and like many other 
settlements was intended to be a place where freed 
slaves might find refuge. 

Like many of his predecessors Dr. Randall died of 
fever in April, 1829, while important negotiations with 
King Boatswain were going on. A young American 
doctor, Mechlin, who had accompanied him to Liberia, 
succeeded to the position of agent. 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


75 


Mechlin seems to have been a very strong and diplo¬ 
matic man, for among his friends were numbered Long 
Peter, chief of Cape Mount, and Bob Gray, king of 
Grand Basa. Mechlin attempted to strengthen the 
hold of the Liberians on the banks of the St. Paul's 
River, and attained much success in his negotiations. 
He developed the settlement of Marshall at the outlet 
of the River Junk,' which is the main estuary of the 
Dukwia and Farmington streams. 

He had, in common with Ashmun, a hatred for slave 
traders, and continued all the policies of the latter. 
Under his direction, the fort which overlooked and com¬ 
manded the peninsula of Cape Mount was improved and 
strengthened. 

The first real test of his ability came in 1832, when a 
number of slaves being sent down the St. Paul's River 
and destined for the Gallinhas territory and the Cuban 
slave trader, Pedro Blanco, escaped from their guards and 
fled to Monrovia as refugees. This precipitated an 
international complication, for the Sultan of Brumley, 
who owned the slaves, was far from being pleased. He 
immediately dispatched his son, Kaipa, to Monrovia to 
demand the return of his property. 

Needless to say, the demand was summarily refused. 
At once, the indignant Sultan procured some assistance 
from the slave traders and marched at the head of his 
army to the Liberian settlements about the St. Paul's 
River. Mechlin acted even more promptly than had the 
Sultan, and despatched General Elijah Johnson, a field 


76 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


piece, and one hundred and seventy militiamen to the 
scene. Guarded by one hundred and twenty freed slaves, 
who acted as scouts, Johnson ascended the banks of the 
St. Paul’s River to above the first rapids, and seized the 
villages of Brumley and Gurrats. 

Discouraged by this sudden turn of affairs, the chief 
sued for peace, and was accorded favorable terms by 
Mechlin. By the conditions of the treaty, the chiefs, 
were, however, forced to desist from interrupting the 
trade between Monrovia and the natives of the hinter¬ 
land. Formerly the caravans of the latter had been 
plundered time and time again as they made their way 
towards the seacoast. 


CHAPTER XVII 


The Colonies of Maryland and Mississippi 

Two more attempts to repatriate free Negroes to the 
West Coast of Africa were inaugurated about 1830. 
These were the Maryland and Mississippi State Societies. 
Both societies made landings on the coast, but the Mary¬ 
land colonists met with a cool reception, not only from 
the natives, but from Mechlin, who could not come 
to terms with the commander of this expedition, James 
Hall, regarding the allotment of land. 

In the end Mechlin refused to cede the territory 
Hall desired. Consequently the former was obliged to 
return to America for fresh instructions, leaving his 
thirty-one colonists in Liberia. The State of Maryland 
had subsidized this project of expatriation heavily, and 
had done so mainly in the interests of prohibition among 
the African colonists. 

This was greatly against the desires of the Da and 
Basa chiefs, who did not care to be deprived of their 
whiskey, and the Maryland project nearly came to an 
untimely end on account of the “ dry ” question. Land¬ 
ing in the De and Basa country on his return, Hall got 
into a violent dispute with the different kings, and in 
particular, Chief Joe Harris. 

During the excitement, Governor Finley of the Missis- 
77 


78 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


s : ppi Colonization Society of Sino was killed, possibly 
through the collusion of Theodore Canot, the slave 
trader, whose part in the fight seems to have been a 
rather shady one. 

Harris’s warriors attacked the Marylanders, and aid 
was hastily sent from Monrovia. Again Elijah Johnson 
and his sturdy militiamen arrived on the scene, drove 
the tribesmen back, and captured the principal Basa 
villages. This success drew a grudging consent to the 
colonization of the Marylanders from Joe Harris. Up 
to the present time, however, the efforts of prohibition 
leaders to bar liquor from the West Coast of Africa have 
not been successful. 

The Mississippi Colonization Society had a far more 
peaceful time of it than did the Maryland group. In 
1833, the colonists sent by this society founded the 
town of Greenville at the mouth of the Sino River. This 
settlement, which is still the largest in the neighborhood 
of the Sino, was named after James Green, one of the 
first advocates of emancipation. 

During all this time, Liberia had not abandoned its 
territorial growth. In 1835, more land along the coast 
was purchased from the natives. These acquisitions 
extended Liberian dominions to the mouth of the Sino 
River, and included the outlet of the Sanguin. 

Mechlin died of fever, and was succeeded by Dr. 
Skinner, who spent only part of one year in Liberia. 
In 1837, Anthony D. Williams was appointed agent. 

During Skinner’s brief term of office, Thomas Bu- 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


79 


chanan, a cousin of President Buchanan of the United 
States, was selected by the colonization societies of New 
York and Pennsylvania to report on the condition of 
Liberia. His services to the colony, which were many, 
included the building of the first lighthouse on Cape 
Mesurado. The Liberian settlements of Upper and 
Lower Buchanan at Grand Basa are named after him. 

In 1838 the first census of Liberia was taken. It gave 
the entire population of American origin as 2,281. 
This, of course, did not include the colony of Maryland, 
which was then regarded as a separate state. Doubt¬ 
less the account which states that four thousand emi¬ 
grants had been sent from America to Liberia and 
Maryland was an exaggeration. 

Even the death rate among the Americo-Liberians, 
which was of course high, would hardly account for this 
discrepancy in figures, while the number of emigrants 
who went to Sierra Leone or returned to America was 
infinitesimal. 

As a matter of fact, a hundred thousand Negroes could 
have been sent over of the three million in the United 
States at that time. However, it is hardly necessary 
to point out that the primary object of the several 
American Colonization Societies was not to abolish 
slavery as an institution, but to deport free Negroes. 

Slavery was then firmly established in America, and 
it was considered that its abolition was a very far dis¬ 
tant event. The free Negro was not welcomed in the 
South, for he presented a problem of the equality of the 


80 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


white and black races. Indeed, in many sections, these 
Negroes were considered a menace to society, and an 
attempt at a general black man’s uprising was feared. 
For this reason, some authorities consider that the work 
of the colonization societies was not only a work of 
philanthropy, but also of precaution. 

Liberia now had its first governor. In 1838 fresh 
attention was given to the government of the colony, 
and to the persons in whom authority should be vested. 
An entirely new constitution, peculiar to the needs of 
Liberia, was drawn up by Professor Greenlof, of Harvard 
College. By this time the Colony of Maryland which 
had been built up round Cape Palmas was an indepen¬ 
dent state. The rest of what we now know as Liberia 
was divided into the two counties of Montserrado and 
Grand Basa, and stretched from somewhere about Cape 
Mount on the west to beyond the Sino River on the east. 
It was placed under a Governor and a Vice-Governor. 
To these was added a Council of Liberians, who under 
the direction of the Governor were constituted as a 
legislative body. The Governor and Vice-Governor 
were virtually appointed by the committee of the Ameri¬ 
can Colonization Society, which also retained the right 
of veto on any laws promulgated by the Governor and 
Council. The members of this Council were to be 
elected by the people. As in the United States a suffrage 
was granted to every male citizen of twenty-one years 
and upwards, without property qualification. The 
Council consisted of ten members, of whom six sat for 



President Payne 


President Russell 








HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


81 


the county of Montserrado and four for the county of 
Basa. The administration of justice was vested in a 
High Court of which the Governor was President. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


Liberian Progress and the Beginning of the End 
of the Slave Trade 

The first decisive blow against the slave trade was 
struck when Liberia declared slavery or the sale or barter 
of slaves illegal within the limits of the colony. Fear 
of slave traders being allowed a voice in Liberian politics 
was largely instrumental in confining citizenship to 
persons of color or Africans. The question of this 
limitation of citizenship was much discussed until 
Elisha Whittlesey, a member of the commission to dis¬ 
cuss the constitution, succeeded in having his “ color 
line ” measure adopted. 

The term “ African/’ which was used in the Liberian 
Constitution, was taken advantage of some years later 
by one Attia, a Moorish trader. This Moroccan Jew, 
though as fair complexioned as an European, claimed his 
right to Liberian citizenship, as an African, and boldly 
and openly carried on trade outside the limits of the 
ports of entry. He also established factories on the 
coast and up the rivers of Liberia, and was entirely 
protected by the wording of the Constitution. 

At first glance, this racial distinction might seem to be 
illiberal or even unjust, but from first to last, the colony 
82 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


83 


was for people of color, and at that time the admission 
of whites to citizenship might have given protection to 
the slavers, besides allowing the participation of un¬ 
principled Europeans in the affairs of Government. 

The year 1838 found Liberia making great progress 
as a state. Large bands of freed slaves and many 
friendly natives supplemented the 2,247 American Ne¬ 
groes, and materially swelled the population. The 
number of Negroes of American origin in the colony had 
been materially reduced by deaths from fever and 
kindred diseases. 

The effects of civilization were already being felt. 
Cape Mesurado boasted a lighthouse, and along the St. 
Paul's River, the Basa and Kru coasts, the slave trade 
was a dead letter. On Cape Mount and in the territory 
of the Vai tribe, the slavers were becoming less and less 
evident. Some twenty churches, ten schools and four 
printing-presses had been built. 

Russwurm, the future Governor of Maryland, was 
editing the one newspaper, the Liberian Herald , which 
was shortly afterwards rivalled by the African Luminary. 
To facilitate trade with the natives and obviate the 
clumsy methods of barter, a Liberian currency of paper 
money was in use. The paper bank notes were novel, 
inasmuch as they were ornamented with pictures of 
natural objects akin to the value of the note, which was 
also transcribed in figures. 

Despite the withdrawal of the United States from the 
slave trade in 1808, the development of the plantations 


84 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


in Cuba, Porto Rico and Brazil gave rise to a large de¬ 
mand for slaves from the African Coasts. 

Don Pedro Blanco, a native of Malaga, and Theodore 
Canot, the former mate of a Boston trading ship, were 
the two best known slavers of this time, and it is to 
Canot’s account that we are much indebted for informa¬ 
tion about the trade itself. Prices paid for the slaves 
were low, adult Negroes in good condition being worth 
only about ten dollars apiece. 

Children or inferior slaves were bought at from three 
to eight dollars. Slaves of the Mandingo or Fula race 
were more valuable, owing to their lighter skin and more 
handsome appearance. Mandingos were very much in 
demand in Cuba as the smartest type of domestic ser¬ 
vant. But speed and economy of space in the oversea 
transport being essential considerations, after the British 
interference with the slave trade had commenced, not 
so much attention was paid as in the eighteenth century 
to the comfort of the slaves on board. In his account, 
Canot says: 

“ Sometimes on slave ships the height between the 
decks where the slaves were chained was only eighteen 
inches, so that the slaves could not turn around, the 
space being less than the breadth of their shoulders. 
They were chained by the neck and the legs. They had 
not the room of a man in a coffin. They frequently died 
of thirst, for the fresh water would often run short.” 

The establishment of the Liberian colony contributed 
remarkably to the driving out of the slave trade from the 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


85 


regions east of Sierra Leone; but the greatest work in 
the suppression of this traffic in Negro slaves in West 
Africa was done by Great Britain sending her cruisers 
to patrol the Atlantic and the Gulf of Guinea, and abol¬ 
ishing slavery in the West Indies, as in South Africa, 
at a cost of the immense sum of $150,000,000. When 
the British West Indies market was closed, half the in¬ 
ducements were removed. In the meantime the United 
States of America seemed a seething pot, many churches 
drew the bands tighter about the admission of members 
and the Methodist Episcopal Church was ruptured by 
one of its bishops marrying a woman who held slaves. 
The church, as did the nation a few years later, divided 
in half, which placed Liberia more and more in the 
lime-light of the world as^ the future home of the 
liberated slave. 


CHAPTER XIX 


Thomas Buchanan, the First Governor of Liberia 

Liberia’s first governor under the new Constitution 
was Thomas Buchanan of Philadelphia, a white Ameri¬ 
can, who has been mentioned elsewhere in this history. 
In 1836 he had come out to Liberia as the envoy of 
two colonization societies, and had constructed one of 
the first lighthouses on the West Coast of Africa. 

In 1839 he became governor, and almost at once 
began an eventful career which finally won him the 
native nickname of “ Big Cannon.” Under the rather 
weak and ineffectual administration of Anthony D. 
Williams, the Gora and De tribes had been continuously 
and furiously battling in the country back of Monrovia. 

For some time victory lay in the balance, but the Gora 
tribesmen finally destroyed all the power that had been 
the Des’. Inevitably all this warfare and bloodshed did 
considerable damage to the colony, and Williams be¬ 
trayed no inclination to right matters by force of 
arms. 

Hardly had Buchanan entered upon his new duties, 
when Gatumba, a chief of Boporo, linked his fortunes 
with those of the Gora people, and led his warriors in a 
furious onslaught against the Des. Whether by acci¬ 
dent or by intention, those Liberians who lived along 
86 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


87 


the course of the St. Paul’s River were also attacked by 
Gatumba’s followers. 

At the time of this infringement on the rights of the 
little Republic, Buchanan was suffering from a violent 
attack of fever. Even in illness, however, he was far 
stronger in action than his predecessor. He at once 
sent a peremptory message to Gatumba, ordering him to 
withdraw from Liberian territory. 

Almost coincident with the sending of an insulting 
reply by the chieftain, the settlement of Millsburg was 
destroyed by the Gora. Buchanan was still very unwell, 
but immediately appointed a young octoroon trader, 
Joseph Jenkins Roberts, to command an expedition of 
three hundred Liberian militiamen and several field- 
guns. Roberts was afterwards the first president of 
the Liberian Republic. 

Meanwhile, Gatumba was still following up his earlier 
successes. He had a notorious ally, one Gotora, who 
was locally supposed to be a cannibal. To initiate a 
real invasion of Liberia, Gotora and seven hundred men 
were sent to attack the little mission station of Hedding- 
ton on the St. Paul’s River. Here the invasion sus¬ 
tained a severe check, for in spite of the smallness of the 
body of defenders, so well were they armed and so good 
was their discipline, that after a short-lived attack 
Gotora was killed, and his men at once fled. 

Close on their heels came not only General Roberts 
with his militiamen and guns, but Governor Buchanan 
himself, who had arisen from a sick bed to carry the war 


88 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


into the enemy’s territory. Leaving their cannon behind 
them on account of the density of the undergrowth, and 
the impossibility of their transportation across the 
swamps, the three hundred Liberians marched through 
the jungle on Gatumba’s stronghold. 

This was a walled town some twenty miles from Mills- 
burg, and supposedly amply protected by the dense 
jungle which surrounded it. In a short time, however, 
the Liberian force had surrounded it, and their aim was 
so good, that after a first fierce struggle the soldiers of 
Gatumba laid down their arms and fled to cover. 

Gatumba’s town was finally burned to the ground, 
after the Liberians had occupied it for twenty-four hours. 
The chief, himself, became an outcast and entirely lost 
all his considerable power. This incident, and the suc¬ 
cess of Governor Buchanan’s prompt action, raised the 
prestige of the Liberian Government considerably in 
the esteem of the natives. The chiefs of Boporo 
hastened to effect a new treaty, and peace was again 
restored to the hinterland. 

Despite the fact that all warfare was abandoned, the 
land on both banks of the St. Paul’s River remained 
undeveloped for some time, owing to the unsettled state 
of the adjacent country. Its agricultural development, 
which had been proceeding very satisfactorily up to 
1830, thus received a severe set back. 

While Buchanan’s main contribution to the welfare 
of the colony was his suppression of the slave trade, 
he also took advantage of his war-like reputation to con- 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


89 


elude several treaties and alliances with the native chiefs. 
He was also instrumental in preventing much inter¬ 
tribal warfare, and in abolishing barbarous customs, such 
as the poison ordeal. 

The United States had long since prohibited its sub¬ 
jects from engaging in the slave trade, but until 1842 
did not back up the law with force. Therefore the 
Stars and Stripes fluttered from the stern of many a 
slaver which scudded past the Liberian Coast. At that 
time, the British Government had not the oft-disputed 
right to search American vessels, but the English 
cruisers prevented the establishing of slave exporting 
stations at Cape Mount and the Basa Coast. 

Writing of the British naval officers, Buchanan 
says: 

“ Whilst making various complaints against English 
traders, I cannot forbear placing in distinguished con¬ 
trast the honorable and gentlemanly conduct of the naval 
officers of that nation. They invariably manifest a 
warm interest in the prosperity of the colony, and 
often lay me under obligations by their kind offers of 
service.” 

Already the trade in palm oil was beginning to out¬ 
rank the slave traffic as the first consideration of traders. 
Great Britain, at that time and for many years, was the 
principal purchaser of palm oil, which was greatly in 
demand by the Liverpool shipping interests. 

As Liberia was rich in oil-bearing palms, British traders 
from Sierra Leone began to encroach upon the Liberian 


90 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


Coast. These settlers were very anxious to have the 
Union Jack flying over them, and were openly scornful 
of the United States, which, as they said, enslaved 
Negroes in one country, and advocated their freedom in 
another. 

Buchanan looked with great suspicion on these British 
settlements, and in 1840 sent an agent to England to 
obtain assurance that no English colonization society 
would trespass upon Liberian territory. The British 
Anti-slavery Society was viewed with suspicion by the 
colonists, who feared that ulterior motives lay beneath 
its philanthropy. 

An All-British domain from Sierra Leone to the Gold 
Coast was the spectre which confronted Liberians at 
that time. Many Americans interested in Liberia urged 
the United States to buy the Dutch and Danish settle¬ 
ments; but American interests at that time were chiefly 
concerned with domestic problems. 

The census of 1840 disclosed that Liberia, not includ¬ 
ing Maryland, had a population of 2,221 American set¬ 
tlers and thirty thousand freed slaves and natives, who 
were loyal to Liberian rule. 

Buchanan oftentimes professed himself acutely dis¬ 
satisfied by the attitude of the colonists, who were for 
the most part townsmen and not farmers. From time 
to time, he addressed drastic remarks to the settlers, 
urging them to become self-supporting. This must 
have had some result, for, writing in May, 1839, he 
says: 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


91 


“ The right bank of the river St. Paul presents an 
almost continuous line of cultivated farms.” 

He was greatly in favor of intelligent cooperation in 
the smaller communities, and urged them to raise money 
for schools, etc., by clubbing together. 

Commerce between Liberia and the United States 
began to diminish during this period on account of the 
many sailing vessels lost on the coast. A few years 
later, Britain’s trade with Liberia really began when the 
Macgregor Laird , the first British steam vessel on the 
West Coast, came out from Liverpool. 

Gradually the current of trade drifted to Great Brit¬ 
ain, because the voyage to England was easier and 
quicker than that to the United States. From 1840 a 
more or less continuous friendship began between Great 
Britain and Liberia, which is still in existence. 

The last years of Governor Buchanan’s administra¬ 
tion were marred by the intrigues of the Rev. Seyes, a 
well-known Baptist missionary. Seyes attempted to 
become a sort of religious dictator or Grand Elector who 
would rule over Liberia and defy the American Coloniza¬ 
tion Society. 

In this attempt he entirely failed a few days before 
the death of Governor Buchanan. The latter suffered a 
relapse from fever contracted in the surf at the mouth of 
the Junk River, and died at Governor House, Basa Cove, 
on Sept. 3, 1841. 

He was mourned alike by natives and colonists all 
along the Liberian Coasts. His administration stands 


92 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


as one of the strongest and best directed in the whole 
history of the colony. Incidentally he was the last 
white administrator in power on the West African 
littoral eastwards ofjSenegal. 


CHAPTER XX 


Governor Roberts 

Governor Joseph Jenkins Roberts, who had com¬ 
manded the expedition against Gatumba, succeeded 
Buchanan as the head of the Liberian colony. He was 
immediately plunged into the vortex of international 
complications by the action of France in purchasing 
from the native chiefs Cape Mount, the site of Great 
Dieppe at Basa Cove, Great and Little Butu and 
Garawe, near the State of Maryland. 

The French flag was run up at the latter place, and it 
was asserted on royal authority that a considerable 
portion of the Kru coast had been purchased from the 
natives. Naturally, the latter were only too glad to sell 
their lands over and over again. 

In 1840, French possessions on the Grain Coast 
were found only along the course of the river Senegal 
on the Cape Verde Peninsula, and the little island of 
Goree, which had originally been French, but had re¬ 
verted to Holland and England. To these colonies and 
protectorates were added Grand Basa and several 
other parts of the Ivory Coast, some land at Porto 
Novo, near Lagos, and territory about the mouth of the 
Gabun River, from which her vast Congo Possessions 
came into being. 


93 


94 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


Apparently these territorial acquisitions took up all 
her time, for after a protest was registered by Governor 
Roberts, no attempts were made by the French to follow 
up their purchases in Liberia. After a long time, the 
claims were renewed, but merely for purposes of negotia¬ 
tion. 

Governor Roberts was no less active than Buchanan 
and Mechlin had been in adding to the Liberian sphere 
of influence. On February 22, 1843, he concluded a 
treaty with King Yoda of the Gora tribe, by which 
Liberia obtained much territory along the upper waters 
of the St. Paul’s River. The Goras likewise pledged 
themselves to abolish slavery and trial by poison. 

So successful were Roberts’ efforts in the way of treaty 
making that by 1845, Liberian territory extended over 
the whole coastline between the Mafa River on the West 
and Grand Sesters River on the East. Considerable 
money had been paid for these lands; the American and 
other colonization societies frequently financing the 
transactions. 

Most of the territory so acquired was purchased in 
the years of 1843, 1844, and 1845. The position of 
Liberia on and along the Junk River, at Grand Basa, 
at Sino, on the Sanguin, and west of Cape Mount in the 
general direction of the Mano River was greatly strength¬ 
ened by these treaties. 

An agreement was made between Roberts on the one 
hand and John B. Russwurm, President of Maryland, 
on the other, that the states of Maryland and Liberia 



President's Mansion. 


Monrovia 



U. S. Legation, Monrovia 





















































i 




















































































































• 







































HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


95 


should practically unite against aggression by foreign 
powers, and as far as possible pursue a common domestic 
policy, particularly in the matter of customs and tariff. 
In both countries a uniform import duty of six per cent 
ad valorem was fixed, which it was hoped, would provide 
sufficient funds to meet the cost of administering each 
colony, and also render them independent of financial 
support from the various American Colonization Socie¬ 
ties. 

Perhaps a word should be said here about the colony 
of Maryland, which had so far insisted on maintaining 
an existence independent of her larger neighbor, Liberia. 
Founded in 1831, it grew but slowly, and numbered 
about four hundred colonists nine years later. Ten 
miles west of Cape Palmas was the extent of its coast¬ 
line in 1843, but in 1846 various treaties were concluded 
with chiefs of the Kru tribes on either side of Cape 
Palmas. 

These lands extended the State of Maryland from the 
Liberian Frontier at the Grand Sesters River on the west 
to the River San Pedro on the east, sixty miles east of 
the cape. This gave the state a coastline of approxi¬ 
mately one hundred and twenty miles. 

At the present time, the existing county of Mary¬ 
land is but a small portion of the original state, for in 
1892 the French Government annexed fifty miles of 
coast between the San Pedro and the Cavalla rivers, and 
at the same time took over several square miles of the 
hinterland. 


96 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


The administrative capital of Maryland was the town 
of Harper situated at Cape Palmas and named after 
Robert Goodloe Harper of Baltimore, one of the most 
active and most prominent members of the American 
Colonization Society. 

Russwurm was the first governor of Maryland. Like 
many prominent citizens of Liberia he was a native of 
the West Indies, coming from the Danish Island of St. 
Thomas. He was an octoroon, as was Roberts, and 
resembled the Governor of Liberia in energy and capa¬ 
bility. 

Under his supervision and that of Roberts, a census 
was taken in 1843. It placed the combined American 
Negro population at 2,790. 

Governor Roberts made a flying visit to the United 
States in 1844 to consult with officials of the colonization 
societies concerning the slave trade and other problems. 
Later in the same year an American fleet of warships 
visited the Liberian coast. It was in this year also that 
the Methodist Episcopal Church became divided on 
account of the slave question. 

Roberts shortly returned from America to conclude 
an important treaty with chief Bob Gray, one of the 
most important “ kings ” of the Grand Basa district. 
By this agreement, which was signed on April 5, 1845, 
the entire strip of seacoast between Marshall on the Junk 
River and the Grand Basa settlements was ceded to 
Liberia. 

In the same year, Liberian territory was much ex- 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


97 


tended by agreements with natives on the Sino River and 
the Kru Coast, and the affairs of the colony seemed 
in excellent shape, until an unexpected compli¬ 
cation was precipitated by the authorities at Sierra 
Leone. 

Officials of that colony decided that the Liberian 
Administration had no right to collect custom duties 
anywhere along the Liberian Coast, and guaranteed the 
British merchants against acts of aggression which might 
be committed if the dues were not paid. 

The first collision between British and Liberian 
authorities occurred at Basa Cove, where the Liberians 
attempted to collect harbor and import dues from Cap¬ 
tain Dring, a British trader. Commander Jones of the 
British West African Squadron was ordered to Mon¬ 
rovia from Sierra Leone with a letter from the British 
Government, which flatly informed Governor Roberts 
that “ Great Britain could not recognize the right of 
private persons to constitute themselves a Government, 
and amongst other acts of sovereignty to levy custom 
duties.” 

Soon after, the Liberians retaliated by seizing in Basa 
anchorage a vessel known as the Little Ben for non¬ 
payment of harbor dues by a certain Captain Davidson 
of Sierra Leone. Commander Jones and an English 
gunboat arrived on the scene, and effectively turned 
the tables by seizing a ship, the John Seyes, owned by 
one Benson, a loyal subject of Liberia. Very flimsy and 
transparent excuses were put forward by the British 


98 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


for this act, against which the United States Govern¬ 
ment protested to Britain. 

The reply was made that “ Great Britain could not 
recognize the sovereign powers of Liberia, which it 
regarded merely as the commercial experiment of a 
philanthropic society.” 

It was also put forward that by time of residence, 
Captain Dring had prior rights at Basa Cove to those of 
the Liberians. Lord Aberdeen, the foreign minister, 
took up the case, and wrote to Everett, the American 
ambassador at the Court of St. James, that, “ Her 
Majesty’s naval commanders would afford efficient 
protection to British trade against improper assumption 
of power on the part of the Liberian authorities.” 
Doubtless this last phrase referred to the levying of 
custom duties and harbor dues. 

The United States appears to have abandoned all 
intention of intervention for the little Republic at that 
time, for the minister in Great Britain replied that the 
United States had no thought of “ presuming to settle 
differences arising between Liberian and British sub¬ 
jects; the Liberians being responsible for their own acts.” 

From these diplomatic interchanges it became ap¬ 
parent that the United States entirely disclaimed any 
protection of Liberia, and did not claim for it the status 
of an American colony. 

The American Colonization Society immediately 
followed the lead of the United States Government in 
standing aloof from the responsibilities of creating the 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


99 


Negro colony, and in January, 1846, resolved through 
its board of directors that “ the time had arrived when 
it was expedient for the people of the Commonwealth of 
Liberia to take into their own hands the whole work of 
self-government, including the management of all their 
foreign relations.” 

Thus Liberia was entirely thrown upon her own re¬ 
sources, and deprived of all aid, financial or otherwise, 
from either the United States or the colonization socie¬ 
ties, which were jointly responsible for its creation as a 
colony. 

A few thousand ex-slaves and freed Negroes were 
left to fight, on one hand, the savages and the jungles, 
and on the other, the determined and almost constant 
aggressions of foreign nations upon their territory. 
That they met the crisis wisely and bravely is forever 
to their credit. 


CHAPTER XXI 


The Founding of the Republic 

Fortunately for Liberia, the British Government at 
that time was rather overburdened by its territorial 
responsibilities in Africa, and did not care to add more 
lands on the West Coast to its already long list of colonies. 
If Britain had desired to annex Liberia in 1846, it is 
hardly likely that the United States would have offered 
any considerable opposition. 

In those days there was no steamship service between 
England and the West Coast, and the Liberian trade 
was not of much importance. Consequently the British 
Government was in no hurry to act, and during this 
time Governor Roberts had the foresight to materially 
strengthen the Liberian hold on the Grain Coast by ad¬ 
ditional purchases from the native chiefs. He secured 
eighty miles of the Kru coast and also the Kru towns of 
Sestra Kru and Grand Sesters in this year. He was also 
occupied in a determined attack on the slave trade, which 
was almost wiped out in the vicinity of Cape Mount. 

Whether or not England approved of this territorial 
growth of the little colony, it did not venture to further 
interfere with the foreign policies of Liberia, and in 
January, 1846, Roberts decided that the only solution 
of the difficulties of Liberia was to declare it an inde- 
100 



President Cheeseman 


President Coleman 





President Howard 


President Johnson 















































































HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


101 


pendent Negro Republic. It was not difficult to obtain 
the assent of the American Colonization Society to this 
scheme, for the Society had for some time wished itself 
rid of its responsibilities on the West Coast. 

The British seemed to favor the plan, provided Li¬ 
beria constituted itself a State with definite responsibili¬ 
ties, and the government was assured that it would 
receive full recognition from the British Government. 
During the spring and early summer of 1847, the Li¬ 
berians continued to discuss the question of indepen¬ 
dence. On May 18, an ordinance for administering 
justice in the State of Maryland was passed, and prep¬ 
aration was made to declare Maryland an independent 
state simultaneously with Liberia. July 8th, 1847, was 
declared a day of public thanksgiving in Liberia, to mark 
the conclusion of the efforts which had been made to draw 
up the terms of the Declaration of Independence and the 
future constitution of the Liberian Republic. 

On October 7th of the previous year, a council of 
Liberians had almost unanimously approved of the 
measure providing for a Republic, and all the tribes 
favored it, except the people of Grand Basa. 

On July 2nd a solemn Declaration of Independence 
on the part of the Liberian nation was made in conven¬ 
tion. Roberts seems to have been absent from Monro¬ 
via at the time; Samuel Benedict, the Chief of Liberia, 
was elected President of the Convention which made 
this declaration. The other members were H. Teage, 
General Elijah Johnson, J. N. Lewis, Beerly Wilson, and 


102 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


J. B. Gipson (representatives of the Montserrado 
County), John Day, Amos Herring, A. W. Gardner, 
Ephraim Titler (representatives from Grand Basa); 
and R. E. Murray, representative from Sino. Mr. Jacob 
W. Prout was the Secretary of the Convention. The 
Constitution was adopted by a unanimous vote. 

The Liberian seal: “ A dove on the water, represent¬ 
ing peace, with an open scroll in its claws, representing a 
thirst for the pen and the knowledge so long denied 
them,” was also adopted. On the seal is also the promon¬ 
tory of Mesurado, a lighthouse, ships under full sail, 
and a plough. Oftentimes the dove is represented as 
carrying a document in its beak, which is emblematic 
of a rising republic. 

A somewhat peculiar state of affairs existed at this 
time regarding the status of Maryland State. Despite 
the fact that it was not formally annexed until 1857, 
three members from Maryland sat in the Lower House at 
Monrovia, and it was represented by two senators in the 
Liberian Senate. Its constitution was largely modelled 
on that of the larger republic, although it continued 
under its own governor. 

The Sino district was represented by two members 
in the Upper House and three in the Lower House of 
Liberia. 

The hoisting of the new flag of the Republic on August 
24th was the signal for the recognition of the new Repub¬ 
lic as an independent state by Great Britain. An Eng¬ 
lish man-of-war proceeded to Monrovia and there 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


103 


saluted the new ensign with a salvo of twenty-one 
guns. 

On the first Tuesday in October, 1847, Joseph Jenkins 
Roberts was elected the first President of the Republic, 
and on January 3d, 1848, he was inaugurated. The 
President was well liked by many of the native chiefs, 
and several hundred tribesmen flocked to Liberia to see 
the ceremonies of his installation. 

Soon after taking office, President Roberts left for 
Europe with his wife, who was an octoroon like himself. 
Arriving in England, Roberts succeeded in completing a 
commercial treaty with the British Government which 
thoroughly assured the status of the Liberian Republic 
as an independent nation. 

Great Britain acknowledged the right of Liberians to 
levy duties and taxes, and ordered her merchant vessels 
not to enter certain specified ports without the permis¬ 
sion of the Liberian authorities. In return, Liberia 
allowed the British to reside wherever they pleased in 
the country. 

The treaty was signed for England by Viscount 
Palmerston and the Right Hon. Henry Labouchere, and 
was ratified by the Liberian Senate on February 26, 
1849. Labouchere was then Under Secretary of State 
for the Colonies, and afterward became Lord Taunton. 

From England Roberts proceeded to France, where he 
was received by Napoleon III, and thence to Belgium, 
where Leopold I gave him a most cordial reception. 
In Holland he was likewise welcomed, and on his visit 


104 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


to Berlin, the Government of Prussia took the op¬ 
portunity to formally recognize the existence of the 
Liberian Republic. This recognition closely followed 
that of France and England. 

The Ambassador of Prussia to England, the Chevalier 
de Bunsen, gave a dinner in Roberts’ honor upon the 
return of the latter to England. Among the guests 
at this banquet were Lord Ashley, who was soon to be¬ 
come Earl of Shaftesbury, the Rev. Ralph Randolph 
Gurley (the biographer of Ashmun and one of the best- 
known American promoters of Liberia), and Blomfield, 
the Bishop of London. 

The Bishop was much interested in the slave trade in 
the Gallinhas country, and listened with amazement to 
Roberts’ graphic description of the ravages of Pedro 
Blanco and the other Cuban and American slavers in 
that region. 

Roberts declared that in his opinion the only way in 
which the slave trade in this region might be effectively 
suppressed would be to purchase the lands between 
Sherbro Island and Cape Mount from the native chiefs, 
and then use the entire authority and force of Liberia to 
break up the commerce in slaves. 

The Bishop promptly asked how great a sum would be 
necessary to purchase the rights to this land, and Rob¬ 
erts estimated it at two thousand pounds ($10,000). 

Lord Ashley immediately volunteered to raise this 
sum if Mr. Gurley approved of the expenditure. Gurley 
expressed the utmost satisfaction in regard to the proj- 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


105 


ect, and the next day Lord Ashley obtained a thousand 
pounds in a Lombard Street bank and gave it to Roberts. 
Arrangements were made for raising the other thousand 
pounds, and on his return Roberts was able to finance 
treaties with the chiefs of Mattru, Gumbo, Basa, Gallin- 
has, Manna and Manna Rock, although these territories 
were not actually purchased until the year 1856. 

Of all the European potentates, Queen Victoria gave 
the most kindly welcome to President Roberts, and it 
was in England that he received the greatest assistance 
for the new Republic. Every honor was paid the 
President, and a salute of seventeen guns was accorded 
him at a reception on board the Royal yacht. Not only 
Roberts but his whole official staff were sent back to 
Liberia on board the British warship, Amazon; and in 
addition to these courtesies, the British admiralty 
presented the Liberian Republic with a transport, the 
Lark, and a small four-gun sloop, the Quail. The 
latter was of much use as a revenue cutter, and proved 
most efficacious in the prevention of smuggling and the 
slave trade. Upon the presentation of these vessels, 
the Liberian Senate and Congress passed unanimous 
resolutions of thanks. 

Roberts returned to Liberia, delighted above all with 
his reception in England, and also gratified at the kindli¬ 
ness with which other foreign courts had received him, 
and the readiness with which they recognized the Li¬ 
berian Republic. Soon after his return to Monrovia, 
France sent a gunboat, the Penelope, to salute at Monrovia, 


106 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


with twenty-one guns , the flag of the Liberian Republic. 
The American corvette Yorktown and the English gun- 
vessel Kingfisher also visited Liberia in the early part of 
1849 and assisted Roberts in a final attack on the ob¬ 
stinate Spanish slave-trade settlements at New Cess 
River, just beyond Basa, which were destroyed and 
3,500 slaves released. 

In the year 1849, Portugal, Sardinia, Austria, Den¬ 
mark, Sweden and Norway, Brazil, Hamburg, Bremen, 
Lubeck, and Haiti followed the powers of Western and 
Central Europe in formally recognizing the Liberian 
State. The United States withheld its act of formal 
recognition, for the reason that it feared if Liberia was 
recognized as an independent State, the United States 
would have to receive at Washington a “ man of color.” 
Such was the color prejudice then in vogue in the United 
States. In 1862 the United States formally acknowl¬ 
edged the independence of this little State created by 
American philanthropy. 


CHAPTER XXII 


The Republic in 1850. Roberts’ Second Term as 
President 

At this time, when its status as a sovereign state had 
been recognized throughout Europe, Liberia had a sea- 
coast of 286 miles. It was estimated to extend between 
and 6 0 48' north latitude and between S°S and 
11°20 west longitude. From Cape Mount on the 
north to Grand Sesters on the south, the average width 
of the country was forty-five miles, while its approximate 
area was 12,830 square miles. 

There were 6,100 Liberians of American origin resi¬ 
dent in the Republic, and the export trade had so grown 
that it amounted to $50,000 yearly. In 1850 the popula¬ 
tion of Monrovia is said to have been 1,300. The 
country’s public debt at the beginning of that year was 
but eight thousand dollars. 

The settlement of Robertsport was founded at Cape 
Mount in 1849, and in the same year, the Rev. Ralph 
Gurley came to Liberia as the joint representative of the 
Liberian Government and the American Colonization 
Society, in order to report on the progress made by the 
country since its declaration of independence. 

Gurley left Baltimore on August 1, 1849, and reached 
Cape Mount on September 18. From the moment of his 
107 


108 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


approach to the West African Coast, when he said of the 
gorgeous sunsets and sunrises of this region: “It seemed 
as though all the purple of Home’s consuls and Caesars 
were spread out under the last footsteps of the God of 
Day,” to his return after a month in the Republic, his 
impressions of Liberia were most favorable. His very 
enthusiastic account of the country and its possibilities 
was printed as a State Document in 1850 by the United 
States Congress. With this act may be said to have 
ended the direct patronage of the United States and the 
American colonization societies, though in 1877 a number 
of Negroes were sent from the southern states as colo¬ 
nists. But in various philanthropic circles the interest in 
the Liberian experiment died. 

The American Colonization Society, which for so long 
fostered the colony of Liberia, still exists, and still pub¬ 
lishes its journal, The African Repository. This review 
was founded in 1832, and to the present day continues 
to give regular and authentic reports on Liberia. Its 
name was changed to Liberia in 1892, and it now has 
an active and well-edited contemporary in Liberia, 
West Africa, which is also published in Monrovia. 

The president elected in 1905 was the Rev. Judson 
Smith, D.D. Among the vice-presidents is the familiar 
name of Crozer, in remembrance of whom Crozerville 
was founded in Liberia. 

The late professor Edward W. Blyden, and Bishop 
Isaiah B. Scott, and Bishop J. C. Camphor, Methodist 
Bishops of Africa, were great workers worthy of note. 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


109 


The Chairman of the Executive Committee bears the 
honored name of Gurley, and is no doubt a son of Ash- 
mun’s biographer. 

The Liberian Republic resembles the United States 
in its flag, its political distinctions and a system of party 
government, bearing among the conservative-minded 
Liberian voters the name of Whigs or Old Whigs, while 
the more radical or progressive section of the people 
called themselves the “ True Liberian Party,” and 
“ Republicans.” The term “ Whig,” like “ Tory,” 
came, as a political nickname, from England to the 
United States, and from America back to Liberia, 
where it is in use at the present day. 

The Whigs in later days have been further differen¬ 
tiated as “ True Whigs,” and “ Old Whigs.” As a 
party, they desire to limit and restrain the rights of 
foreigners in Liberia, and to preserve the commerce and 
land-settlement as much as possible for Negroes. The 
True Liberian, called later on the Republican Party, 
on the other hand, advocate a far more liberal policy, 
which should admit strangers to nearly all the advantages 
of Liberia. To this last party belonged President 
Roberts, and also Stephen Allen Benson for the first 
part of his career. But Benson afterwards went over 
to the Whig party, and since 1860 this has been the 
dominant faction. 

So successful had the administration of President 
Roberts been, that in May, 1849, he was elected for a 
second term, beginning January 1, 1850. He was again 


110 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


chosen to head the Republic between 1851 and 1853, and 
held office until December 31, 1855, a tenure of more 
than six years. 

Under Roberts’ capable guidance, Liberia began to 
grow in importance and in commerce. 

In 1850 German interests entered the Liberian field, 
and two Hamburg trading-houses were established in 
the Republic. One year later the British Government 
appointed as its first consul at Monrovia, the Rev. Mr. 
Hanson. Hanson’s tenure of the post was not altogether 
successful, and he left in a year, complaining of disre¬ 
spectful treatment by the Liberians. He was a native 
of Cape Coast Castle and a man of African birth, but 
does not seem to have attracted much attention as a 
diplomat. 

In 1850 also the “ sleep sickness ” or “ sleep disease ” 
was found to exist in Liberia. A missionary, Koelle, 
and a physician, Lugenbeel, both reported the malady, 
which has lately appeared to a small extent in the United 
States. Doala Bukere, inventor of the Yai alphabet, 
was one of the most prominent victims of this disease, 
which has been fully described by Lugenbeel on condi¬ 
tions as he found them in Liberia. 

During the next year, Edward Wilmot Blyden, a 
Negro from the Danish Island of St. Thomas, who was 
destined to become one of the most famous Liberians, 
arrived in the Republic. At that time he was only nine¬ 
teen years of age, but was already an excellent Latin and 
Greek scholar, and was also conversant with many 









V,/-' #»<*«*>*#£ 




















HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


111 


European languages. He soon became a person of note 
in the Republic, and was the author of many books of 
interest. His best known, “ Christianity, Islam, and 
the Negro Race,” is regarded as being one of the most 
authoritative works on African subjects. He was versed 
in Arabic, and it is said that his policy on African 
Colonization is the only method that will meet with 
success. He was a resident of Liberia until his death 
there in 1913. 

At this time friction with the natives again occasioned 
trouble in Liberia. In 1850, the natives of Boporo had 
again stopped all trade between the Mandingos in the 
hinterland and the Liberians on the coast by plundering 
the caravans. 

Commerce all along the coast was considerably dis¬ 
turbed by this interior outbreak, which occurred shortly 
after President Roberts had concluded a treaty of peace 
between the Vai, Gora and Buzi tribes in an effort to 
stimulate trade development. Grando, a native chief, 
led a horde of tribesmen against the little town of Lower 
Buchanan, and practically destroyed it. Ten Liberians 
were killed in the battle. 

Rendered over-confident by this victory, he attacked 
Basa Cove, which proved a far harder nut to crack. 
The settlers displayed unexpected resistance, and utterly 
defeated Grando’s army with great loss to the latter. 

Meanwhile, Maryland was having its share of native 
troubles and insurrections, and the governor, John Bap¬ 
tist Russwurm, died of overstrain and overwork. 


112 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


Roberts had completed the acquisition of territory 
between Cape Mount and the Bulo country behind Sher- 
bro Island, and returned to Europe in 1852. In October 
of the same year he had an interview with the Prince- 
President of the French Republic, Louis Napoleon, 
who was not yet Emperor. Roberts’ visit to England 
was to secure recognition from the British Government 
of Liberian sovereignty over the Gallinhas country. 
He was again highly honored and was sent back to Li¬ 
beria on a British warship. 


CHAPTER XXIII 


Population in 1853. Border Troubles and Annexa¬ 
tion of Maryland 

It was estimated that in 1853 the civilized population 
of Liberia was more than ten thousand. 

Maryland had been having no such prosperous time 
as that experienced by Liberia, and was, on the contrary, 
embroiled in troubles with the native tribes. Governor 
Russwurm had been succeeded as head of the colony 
by S. M. McGill, and a fine town was being founded at 
Cape Palmas. Constant trouble was the rule in dealing 
with the natives, and the friction was particularly marked 
between the American colonial administrators and the 
warlike coast tribes of the Grebos and Krus. The allied 
races of the Lower Cavalla River also frequently warred 
on the colonists. 

In 1854 William A. Prout succeeded McGill as Gover¬ 
nor, and Maryland was then declared to be not a colony 
but an independent Republic. Any advice from Mon¬ 
rovia on domestic questions was resented as infringing 
on the independence of Maryland, whose existence as a 
Republic was not recognized by any of the European 
Powers. 

In 1856 the long-smouldering embers of native insur¬ 
rection broke into flame, when on December 22, warriors 
113 


114 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


of the Grebo and allied tribes battled at Cape Palmas. 
They were driven off; but on January 18, 1857, a body of 
Marylanders, who were endeavoring to retaliate upon 
the Grebos, met with disaster on the shores of Sheppard 
Lake. 

In a fierce battle near this lagoon, which lies between 
Cape Palmas and the river Cavalla, the Maryland State 
troops lost a considerable number of men and guns. 
At that time, Roberts was no longer President, but bore 
his old title of general. With two hundred and fifty 
Liberian militiamen, he came to the aid of Maryland. 

On February 18th, a treaty of friendship between the 
two Republics was signed by the Hon. J. T. Gibson for 
Maryland, and by Roberts for Liberia. Shortly after¬ 
wards, peace was declared between Maryland and the 
Grebos. 

J. B. Drayton had succeeded William Prout as gover¬ 
nor at the latter’s death in 1856. Drayton’s policy was 
in accord with that of Liberia, and it was felt on both 
sides that two such Republics as Maryland and Liberia 
should become one. 

This union was effected on February 28, 1B57, when 
Maryland was formally annexed by the larger Republic. 
The office of “ superintendent ” of Maryland superseded 
that of governor, and the former republic became a 
county of Liberia. Its first superintendent was the 
Hon. J. T. Gibson, who had been instrumental in bring¬ 
ing about annexation. Maryland now sent two senators 
and three representatives to the Liberian Congress. 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


115 


During his last year of office (1854), President Roberts 
went to Europe for a third time, reaching England in 
October. So great had been the encouragement af¬ 
forded by Great Britain, that Roberts confidently asked 
Lord Clarendon, then foreign minister, to consent to the 
annexation of Sierra Leone to Liberia for the reason that 
the latter country desired a good harbor. This proposi¬ 
tion was received with little favor by the British diplo¬ 
mats, and it probably was just as well for Liberia not to 
assume more territorial responsibilities at that time. 

Liberian coins were first struck off in this year with 
the financial assistance of Samuel Gurley. In denomina¬ 
tions of one cent, two cents, ten cents, twenty-five cents, 
fifty cents, etc., they were cast in England. Roberts 
returned to Liberia in December to find some degree of 
local opposition to his policies, and in May of the next 
year, Stephen Allen Benson was elected President. 
Benson was born in Maryland (U. S. A.) in 1816, the 
year Richard Allen incorporated the A. M. E. Church, 
and had come to Liberia in 1832, the year of Nat Turner’s 
uprising in the United States in his attempt to free 
himself and to liberate his brother slaves. He had 
risen to be a General and a Vice-President in the 
Liberian State, and was elected with but little oppo¬ 
sition. 

Roberts had rendered great service to the Liberian 
Republic. It is possible that but for his vigorous manage¬ 
ment that state might never have had any independent 
existence at all. Though Roberts was of Negro blood 


116 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


he was mentally and physically the equal of the greatest 
white statesmen, a fact which perhaps gave him more 
weight at that time in the councils of Europe. He was 
much exasperated in the summer of 1855 by the attacks 
of a Mr. George S. Downing, described as a “ Free 
colored man of New York,” who wrote bitter articles 
containing various aspersions on Liberia and President 
Roberts. These articles showed that President Roberts, 
like all great leaders, was, too, to have his opposers. 

Roberts after ceasing to be President still continued 
to devote his talents and energies to the service of Li¬ 
beria. As already related he took command of the 
armed force that went to save Maryland in 1857, and he 
played a leading part in the annexation of that colony; 
his soul was too big for him to stop. 

In 1857 he was appointed principal of Liberia College, 
an institution founded on paper in 1856, but not brought 
into being until 1858-62, during the great Civil War of 
the United States of America. With Mrs. Roberts he 
resided on the site of the college for many years. 

E. W. Blyden, President Gibson and Dr. Nathaniel 
H. B. Cassell afterwards became Presidents of this col¬ 
lege. President Cassell was elected in 1918. 


CHAPTER XXIV 


Roberts as Consul. Domestic and Foreign 
Troubles and Complications 

Ex-president Roberts, in 1862, was appointed Belgian 
Consul at Monrovia. This was not the first honor that 
had been conferred on the Liberian statesman by Euro¬ 
pean potentates. In France, he had greatly attracted 
the attention and respect of Napoleon III, then Prince- 
President of the Republic. No small service was done 
Liberia by this virtual sovereign, who, in 1856, sent to 
the Little African Republic military equipment for a 
thousand men, and the Hirondelle, a small gun-boat. 
The latter proved of almost immediate use, for it con¬ 
veyed Roberts and his two hundred and fifty militia¬ 
men to Maryland, where the defeat of the Grebos was 
accomplished. 

Two years later the hitherto disinterested friendship 
of France was in some degree shattered by a mutiny 
of Krumen on a French vessel. The ship Regina Coeli 
had arrived on the Kru coast to recruit native labor. 
This was a practice much in vogue at the time, the Krus 
being taken to the various parts of the African West 
Coast. 

They were willing to remain in the establishments of 
various merchants or to serve on board French ships for 
117 


118 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


considerable periods of time. This particular band of 
recruits was to be taken to the West Indies. Upon 
hearing of their destination, they at once took alarm, 
and long and suspicious conversations between the cap¬ 
tain and the headsmen induced in them the fear of being 
sold into slavery. 

Terror-stricken by the thought of this eventuality, 
they mutinied in the captain’s absence, and killed every 
member of the white crew, save the doctor. The latter 
had, luckily for himself, won the good graces of the na¬ 
tives by treating the sick among their number. After 
their work of butchery, the Krus set the ship adrift and 
fled to the shore. The vessel drifted along the shore 
until picked up by a passing British steamer, which 
conveyed it to a Liberian port. 

The French Government was in no way to blame for 
this unfortunate incident, due no doubt to a complete 
misunderstanding. 

While Roberts had been anxious to improve the foreign 
relations of the little Republic, President Benson was in 
like manner concerned with the interior of Liberia it¬ 
self. He had had considerable experience in the con¬ 
ditions of the hinterland, gleaned in large measure from 
his adventures as a trader on the St. Paul’s River. On 
one occasion a buccaneering native chief had taken 
him captive, and held him for some time as a hostage. 
Soon after his election, he made a thorough search for 
explorers. His object was to penetrate the vast forest 
of Liberia to the uncharted and unknown regions beyond. 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


119 


Seymore and Ash were sent on this quest early in the 
year 1858. The two Liberians travelled for half a year 
and a full description of their journey, in which they 
reached Kwanga, two hundred and eighty miles distant 
from Monrovia, is given in the proceedings of the Royal 
Geographical Society for 1860. Kwanga can no longer 
be identified on the map, — it is probably the Mandingo 
state of Kwana, — but the travellers describe with 
emphasis the high mountains which they reached. 
They journeyed to the great mountain mass of Nimba, 
where Cavalla River takes it source, and like Joshua 
and Caleb they told of a great country beyond the hills. 

In 1850, the Anglo-Liberian trade had begun to attain 
considerable importance. Four British steamships were 
maintaining a regular service between English ports and 
Liberia. This line, The African Steamship Company, 
was in reality the beginning of the firm of Elder Demp¬ 
ster, which has been almost without a rival in the West 
African trade since the Hamburg Woerman line was 
discontinued in 1914. In 1858, St. Mark’s Hospital, 
the first in the Republic, was founded at Cape Palmas. 

During the ten years after 1850, sharp reprisals were 
visited by Germany and Great Britain on the natives of 
the Kru Coast. The latter customarily stripped and 
dismantled all manner of ships which came ashore on 
the rocks of their coast. Like many seafaring and sea- 
coast peoples, they regarded wrecks and wreckage as 
legitimate salvage. The Governments of Liberia and 
Maryland endeavored to control the natives, but their 


120 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


militiamen and revenue officers were obliged to engage 
in fierce battles with the Krus, which led to very doubt¬ 
ful victories for the Government forces. 

In 1860, the long-drawn-out and bitter boundary 
dispute between Britain and Liberia began. The 
primary cause of it was the refusal of a trader, John 
Myers Harris, to recognize Liberian authority. Harris, 
who was suspected of carrying on a trade in slaves, 
established himself between the Sulima and Mano 
rivers. He was reminded of the Liberian political 
rights, but refused to in any way submit to the authority 
of the Republic. 

President Benson ordered a coast-guard boat to seize 
two schooners belonging to the trader. The seizure 
took place between Cape Mount and Point Mano; that 
is to say well within Liberian territory. 

Notwithstanding the fact that Benson was acting 
entirely within his rights, a British gunboat, the Torch , 
was ordered from Sierra Leone to Monrovia. Her 
officers took away by force the vessels belonging to 
Harris, while the Liberians looked on, powerless to 
intervene. 

In 1862, President Benson went to Sierra Leone to 
negotiate with the Governor for an established boundary 
between that colony and Liberia. Benson was civilly 
received at Sierra Leone, but was referred to London for 
a final decision on the question. 

A commission called the Anglo-Liberian was ap¬ 
pointed and the commission remained in utter deadlock 




President Johnson 


































































HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


121 


over this question; nothing was done either on the 
part of Sierra Leone or of Liberia. 

Although this ended the boundary dispute for the 
time being, it by no means curtailed the activities of 
Harris. Operating with the support of the Sierra Leone 
Government, he attempted to establish himself as an 
independent chief in the Gallinhas country. His exac¬ 
tions caused the Yai tribe to wage virtual war upon him. 

In retaliation, Harris organized the Gallinhas tribes 
for war with the Vai. At once the Liberian Govern¬ 
ment sent a force of militiamen to aid the Vais. With 
their arrival, the Gallinhas natives took to flight, and 
turned their resentment on Harris. One of his factories 
was destroyed, and the trader had the presumption to 
put in a claim against Liberia for six thousand pounds 
($30,000). 

In this he was apparently supported by Sierra Leone. 
This caused the creation of a new joint Anglo-Liberian 
commission to enquire into the matter. It was indeed 
fortunate for the little Republic that an American man- 
of-war was in the neighboring waters, for otherwise the 
Governor of Sierra Leone might have been disposed to 
carry matters with a high hand. 

Commodore Shufeldt of the battleship was chosen as 
arbitrator, and reduced the claims of Harris to a mere 
three hundred pounds ($1,500). 

The colony of Sierra Leone now advanced its claims 
to a protectorate over the coast east of Sherbro Island 
as far as the River Mano, asserting that no order was 


122 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


kept by the Liberian Government west of that 
stream. 

This excuse was but a flimsy one, for the Liberians 
were wholly powerless against the aggressions of the Brit¬ 
ish traders, who could command the military aid of the 
Sierra Leone Government at any time. Again the ques¬ 
tion was submitted to London, and was met with an 
evasive answer by Lord Clarendon. 

In 1870, the ill-fated President Hoye agreed to Lord 
Granville's proposal that the British frontier should be 
at the Sulima River. 

By consenting to this somewhat curious proposal 
President Roye had no doubt gravely compromised the 
right of his government to an extension west of the 
Sulima. As a matter of fact, no steps were taken to 
carry Lord Granville's proposals into effect, owing to the 
disaster which led to the death of President Roye in 
1871. The question, therefore, of this northwest frontier 
continued to remain open until closed by the Anglo- 
Liberian Treaty of 1885. 


CHAPTER XXV 


The Relations between the United States 
and Liberia 

Finally after Liberia’s independence as a sovereign 
state had been recognized by all the great nations of 
Europe, the United States swung into line. On October 
22, 1862, after fourteen years of delay, the virtual 
mother of Liberia gave recognition to that Republic. 
The great argument against such action by the United 
States had been that men of color would come to Wash¬ 
ington as representatives of a country ruled by black 
men. 

This treaty was of no great import, for the indepen¬ 
dence of Liberia was in no way guaranteed, and American 
protection was in no way assured. The question of 
exact relationship between the two Republics is as per¬ 
plexing a one as it is interesting. Therefore it might 
be well to insert the instances and languages in which the 
United States Government has defined its special interest 
in Liberia. This summary is taken from Sir H. H. 
Johnston’s well-known work on Liberia: 

“ In 1879, on the occasion of the reported offer of 
French protection to Liberia, the American minister at 
Paris was instructed to make inquiries on the subject, 
and he was reminded in his instructions that when it 
123 


124 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


was considered that the United States had founded and 
fostered the nucleus of a native representative govern¬ 
ment on the African shore, and that Liberia, so 
created, had afforded a field of emigration and enter¬ 
prise for the emancipated Africans of America, who 
had not been slow to avail themselves of the oppor¬ 
tunity, it was evident that the United States Govern¬ 
ment must feel a peculiar interest in any apparent 
movement to divert the independent political life of 
Liberia for aggression of a great Continental Power, 
which already had a foothold of actual trading posses¬ 
sion on the neighboring coast. 

“ In 1880 Mr. Evarts informed Mr. Hoppin, the United 
States Charge d’Affaires in London, that the United 
States were not averse to having the Great Powers know 
that they publicly recognized the peculiar relations 
which existed between them and Liberia, and that they 
were prepared to take every proper step to maintain 
them. 

“in 1884 during Chester A. Arthur’s administration as 
President of the United States, Frelinghuysen informed 
M. Roustan, French Minister at Washington, that 
Liberia, though not a colony of the United States, began 
its independent career as an offshoot of that country, 
which bore to it a quasi-parental relationship. This 
authorized the United States to interpose its good offices 
in any contest between Liberia and a foreign state. A 
refusal to give the United States an opportunity to be 
heard for this purpose would make an unfavorable 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


125 


impression on the minds of the Government and the 
people of the United States. 

“ In 1887, on the occasion of the reported French ag¬ 
gressions on Liberian territory, the United States Govern¬ 
ment stated that their relations with the Republic had 
not changed and that they still felt justified in employ¬ 
ing their good offices on her behalf.” 

The name of Bishop H. M. Turner, a noted writer and 
lecturer, will ever live as an agitator and vindicator of 
the love America owed Liberia. 


CHAPTER XXVI 


President Warner and the Ports of Entry 
Law 

While the Civil War was at its height in America 
(1864) President Benson was succeeded in office by 
Daniel Bashiel Warner. Whereas the former was a 
very dark man, Warner was a mulatto. Re-elected 
once, he served continuously from 1864 to 1868. 

Warner was elected on the Republican or True Li¬ 
berian ticket, but while in office became a Whig in 
politics. His establishment of the Ports of Entry Law 
in 1865 was doubtless due to a distrust of Europeans; 
induced by the aggressions of Harris and other traders. 

Despite the storm of disapproval it drew from British 
merchants, the Ports of Entry Law is doubtless a wise 
and even necessary measure for Liberia. It confined 
the commerce of foreigners to six “ ports of entry ” 
and a circle of six miles in diameter about each port. 
The six harbors selected for intercourse were Roberts- 
port, Monrovia, Marshall, Grand Basa, Greenville and 
Cape Palmas. 

At each of these ports, Liberian customs houses were 
erected and the government itself took the responsibility 
for all traders and their property. This was not as 
drastic a measure as it would seem, for any person of the 
126 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


127 


African race could become a Liberian citizen, even if he 
was white as to color. 

Many British and other merchants were highly dis¬ 
pleased by this measure, for it rudely curtailed their 
commercial dealings with the native Negroes at many 
ports of the coast. The Liberian Government had little 
choice in the matter, however, for its revenues were too 
slight to permit the erection of more than six customs 
houses, and to provide for their personnel and equip¬ 
ment. 

This restriction of trade was in no way unusual at 
that time, for even on the coasts of British and French 
Africa there were only a few places for the landing or 
embarkation of goods under the supervision of customs 
officers. 

The customs duties were low at that time (six per cent 
ad valorem), but even that small toll induced the foreign 
traders, more particularly the British, to defraud the 
little Negro Republic by making landings at parts of the 
coast outside the recognized spheres of entry. 

Doubtless these spheres will be much extended when 
the financial status of the Liberian Government is such 
that more customs houses can be opened, not only on the 
coast, but along the boundaries of Sierra Leone and the 
French possessions. Numerous trading stations are 
also to be established in the interior, when the Govern¬ 
ment has completed the construction of roads for wheeled 
vehicles and has established police stations. 

Emigration to Liberia received a new stimulus in 


128 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


1865, when three hundred West Indians came to the 
West Coast Republic. Included in the ship-load was 
Arthur Barclay, then a mere boy, who afterwards served 
as President of Liberia. His father was a free Negro, 
who had become involved in political matters in Barba¬ 
dos, and as a result, was obliged to leave that island with 
all his family. 

He was a very able man, and much respected in Li¬ 
beria, where his success was considerable. The Barclays 
were of pure Negro blood, and originally came from 
Little Popo or Dahomey. They showed the strength of 
the Negro brain, although unmixed with the white race. 

After the conclusion of the war between the North and 
South in America, when the Negro’s status in the United 
States was entirely changed, interest in Liberia began 
to revive. Bishop Turner got a better hearing on the 
great African Question, and several attempts were made 
to inaugurate wholesale emigration to Liberia. 

This reawakened interest necessitated the securing 
of information concerning the virtually unknown hinter¬ 
land of Liberia. Many persons went to the little Repub¬ 
lic, but not counting the cost of settling in a new country, 
some returned home and branded the entire project a 
failure. 

To meet the need, Benjamin Anderson, a young Li¬ 
berian, born in 1834 and Secretary of the Treasury under 
President Warner between 1864 and 1866, volunteered 
his services as an explorer. He had received a good 
education, and had a thorough knowledge of surveying. 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


129 


At the time of his withdrawal from office, he visited the 
United States to meet several American philanthropists 
who were interested in the Liberian Question. 

They enquired why some boundary line had not been 
fixed on the Eastern frontier of Liberia, and Anderson 
declared himself willing to undertake such a task of de¬ 
marcation if sufficient funds were provided. Henry 
M. Schiefflin assisted greatly in the financing of this 
work of exploration, which has not to this day been 
repeated in a like direction. 

It stood for many years as one of the greatest under¬ 
takings in the exploration of West Africa. Anderson 
made his start from Monrovia on February 14, 1868, and 
journeyed slowly by crooked trails to the principal 
town of a chief called Besa. This was located near 
the coast slightly west of the river Mano. 

The Mandingos at Boporo manifested some opposi¬ 
tion to the journey, but this trouble was soon ended. 
At Boporo, indeed, Anderson succeeded in securing 
porters and bearers to take him through the country of 
Chief Boatswain, whose name still clung to this stretch 
of hinterland. 

The Mandingos almost wholly controlled the Boat¬ 
swain country, and were large holders of slaves either 
captured in war or brought from the neighboring Kpwesi 
or Buzi tribes. The latter seem to have been a nation 
of considerable importance, for they maintained their 
independence despite the aggressions of the warlike 
Mandingos. 


130 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


Anderson finally reached the edge of the great forest 
at Zigapora Zue. A stretch of park and grasslands as¬ 
cending to a plateau 2,200 feet above sea level, stretched 
northward from this town, and over this he took his way. 
The oil palms, which mark the forest region in western 
and central Africa, disappeared as he reached Bulata 
(2,253 feet in altitude), and the explorer was now travers¬ 
ing a high, healthy and open country, where a dry 
atmosphere and cool nights made travelling more easy 
than in the dense jungles. 

The people of this land were highly civilized, and 
were breeders of horses on a large scale. They were 
Mohammedan Mandingos, and held their capital at 
Musadu. Anderson’s treaties with their chiefs and 
others of the interior may still be seen in the state 
archives at Monrovia. The originals were written in 
Arabic, and by them the various kings and headsmen 
placed their countries within the limits of Liberia. 

As a result of the curious conformations of the lands 
of these chieftains, a somewhat zigzag hinterland bound¬ 
ary was secured for Liberia. 

Again, in 1874, Anderson struggled northeastward 
through the jungles of Liberia. This expedition was 
one for treaty-making, and the geographical discoveries 
were of small importance. Coupled with territorial 
delineations, which were made subsequent to the an¬ 
nexation of Maryland, Anderson’s researches caused 
Liberia to exhibit a curious formation on the map. 

About the time of Anderson’s first trip of exploration, 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


131 


the noted traveller, Burton, visited Cape Palmas and 
the coast of Liberia, when en route to Fernando Po, 
where he was to take up consular work in the Bights of 
Benin and Biafra. 

Win wood Reade, a follower of Burton’s in the paths of 
literature, visited Liberia in 1863 and also in 1870, 
spending about three months on the coast between Cape 
Palmas and Monrovia. With Dr. Blyden, he made a 
journey to Boporo, but his description of that Kondo 
town is not extant. 

His account of Liberia in the second volume of the 
African Sketch Book, published in 1873, and his remarks 
on the Kru people have survived over forty years, and 
are still true to life and well worth reading. 

He died in 1874 on his return from Ashanti land. 
It is said by some historians that he and Professor Henry 
Drummond are the only two writers of genius who have 
ever touched Africa. Reade’s best known work, “ The 
Martyrdom of Man,” was planned in a leaky hut at 
Falaba, high up in the Mandingo country, where he was 
being held captive. It is now in its seventeenth edition. 


CHAPTER XXVII 


President Payne. Edward James Roye and the 
Chinery Loan 

In the election of 1867, President Warner was defeated 
by the Republican candidate, James Sprigg Payne. 
Payne took office on January 1, 1868, and was president 
until 1870. His term of office was uneventful. 

He was succeeded by Edward James Roye, a pure- 
blooded Negro, and the first Whig president to take office. 

At that time the relative volume of the Liberian trade 
was small compared with that of the British and French 
colonies on the same coast, on account of Liberia’s 
inability to open up her hinterland to a more profitable 
and extended commerce. Between 1860 and 1870, 
there had been much discussion on this question and 
regarding that of public works. 

As the difficulties surrounding the propositions were 
purely financial, it was decided to negotiate a loan. 
This measure was enthusiastically supported by Presi¬ 
dent Roye, who sent two commissioners, W. S. Anderson 
and W. H. Johnson, to London to complete arrange¬ 
ments. Unluckily for the Republic, its consul-general 
for Great Britain was an English financial agent, one 
Chinery, whose connections were with certain banking 
houses of not the best repute. 

132 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


133 


The loan was to be for a hundred thousand pounds, 
that is to say five hundred thousand dollars. Chinery 
introduced a rather shady firm of bankers, who outlined 
a proposition unfavorable for Liberia. A payment in 
cash of seventy thousand pounds was to be made against 
a bond issue of a hundred thousand pounds. 

The whole loan was to be repaid in fifteen years, and 
the interest was seven per cent for the entire ore hundred 
thousand pounds. This arrangement made it necessary 
for Liberia to pay back to the lenders the outrageous 
sum of one hundred and thirty-two thousand six hun¬ 
dred pounds, including the interest. 

Doubtless the hard terms of the loan were largely 
due to the rather poor security advanced by Liberia. 
The customs dues or some branch of the customs revenue 
was a guarantee for the loan; but the bankers declared 
that the revenues were collected in no certain and orderly 
fashion, and it might happen that there would be too 
little revenue to meet the actual “ overhead ” expenses 
of Liberia itself. 

In case the little Republic repudiated its obligations, 
they were fully aware that the British Government 
would take no action whatever in the matter. 

In Monrovia and elsewhere, the news of Chinery’s 
loan was received with great dissatisfaction on all sides. 
The indignant citizens at once protested to Chinery, 
but President Roye was in England, compromising 
Liberia in the Gallinhas Question, and while there ap¬ 
proved the idea of the loan. Upon this journey the 



134 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


Liberian Secretary of State, Hilary R. W. Johnson, 
accompanied him. 

In England Johnson disagreed with Roye over the 
Sierra Leone Liberian frontier, and hastily returned to 
Monrovia. It seems apparent from his subsequent 
actions that Roye was about to attempt an overthrow 
of the Government, which would allow him to govern 
Liberia as a despot. While he did not take any direct 
action as to Chinery’s loan, he intimated his approval of 
the scheme, before the matter had been duly considered 
by the Liberian legislature. 

Roye thought his position a secure one, and so im¬ 
mediately after his return from England in the first 
part of October, 1871, issued a proclamation to the effect 
that he would extend his tenure of office for two more 
years. Doubtless the Liberians might have favored 
such a change, if Roye had not autocratically and ille¬ 
gally ordered it on his own authority. 

At once popular indignation began to run high at 
Grand Basa, Monrovia, and many other settlements. 
Roye attempted to arm those of his party who had 
promised to support him in his coup d’eiat. His sup¬ 
porters made an attempt to seize a bank building in 
Monrovia, and with that overt act, the fires of insurrec¬ 
tion broke out. 

Almost to a man, the citizens of Monrovia rose against 
the despotic president in the first and last revolution in 
Liberia. Street fighting became general and several 
lives were lost on both sides. Roye’s followers were out- 







































> 


Hon. J. L. Morris 




















































































































































































































HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


135 


numbered and out-fought,and fled, while an angry crowd 
sacked the President’s mansion. 

After a somewhat extended man hunt through the 
city, Roye and one of his sons were caught and im¬ 
prisoned. Congress was hastily summoned, and the 
Senate and House of Representatives issued a manifesto 
deposing Roye. The government was to be provisionally 
carried on by Charles B. Dunbar, General R. A. Sherman 
and Amos Herring until a new president could be 
elected. The manifesto was issued on October 26, 1871. 
Roye’s Secretary of State, H. R. W. Johnson, still re¬ 
mained in office. 

Meanwhile, ex-President Roye’s trial before the 
Supreme Court was halted by his death in the breakers 
off Monrovia. During the night, Roye, through negli¬ 
gence, had managed to elude his guards and had 
escaped from jail. In a native canoe, he tried to 
reach an English steamer in the harbor. He removed 
the greater part of his clothing, so that he might be mis¬ 
taken for an ordinary native or Kru boy looking for work. 
About his waist was a money belt, filled with sovereigns! 
and as the badly steered canoe capsized, Roye was 
drowned. 

Much confusion exists as to the precise amount of 
money which actually reached the Liberian treasury from 
the loan. It is generally estimated that twenty-seven 
thousand pounds out of the hundred thousand actually 
reached Liberia. Of this sum, twelve thousand pounds 
was paid in bills, which could be negotiated only at a 


136 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


high rate of discount, and out of the seventy thousand 
pounds assumed to have been found by the London 
bankers, three years’ interest was apparently deducted. 

A great deal of the money seems to have disappeared 
with Roye, and W. S. Anderson, who was bringing out 
a small sum from England, was so alarmed by Roye’s 
fate that he fled to St. Paul de Loanda, and demanded 
protection against prosecution in Liberia. 

President Roye had further compromised the Li¬ 
berian Republic by issuing bonds to the sum of eighty 
thousand pounds against the amount of the loan. Vari¬ 
ous historians state that possibly even one hundred 
thousand pounds’ worth of bonds were in circulation, 
but the Liberian government was able to cancel a large 
number of these. 

Chinery’s successor as Consul General began a suit 
against the former Liberian representative at the behest 
of the Republic, but no satisfaction was obtained in any 
manner. Indeed, through a strange turn of circum¬ 
stance, Chinery again acted as Consul General in London 
during 1880. This came about through the efforts of 
Dr. E. W. Blyden, who, meeting Chinery in Sierra 
Leone, came to the conclusion that the blame lay entirely 
with Roye. Blyden, then Liberian minister to the court 
of St. James, appointed Chinery to his former position, 
but this action was never confirmed by the Liberian 
President. 

Former President Joseph J. Roberts was called upon 
to succeed Roye, and held office until 1875. Scarcely 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


137 


two months after relinquishing his position as head of the 
Republic, he died from a chill contracted at the funeral 
of a colleague. A tornado burst on that occasion, and 
Roberts died on February 21, 1876, from the effects of 
the downpour. 


CHAPTER XXVIII 


The Ultimate Settlement of the Chinery 
Loan 

Quite naturally the Liberian Government was in¬ 
clined to repudiate the Chinery loan after the treachery 
of Roye, but unfortunately from twenty to twenty-seven 
thousand pounds had arrived in Liberia and had 
promptly been spent. An Englishman named Johnson 
had taken Chinery’s post in London, and during nine 
years attempted to in some way straighten out the 
tangled affairs of the Republic. 

Owing to Blyden’s efforts, Chinery again held the 
office, but was succeeded by one Gudgeon, who, in turn, 
gave place to Henry Hayman, whose title was Consul 
General and Acting Minister Resident. Hayman 
first took office from 1885 to 1891, and his more 
vigorous attempts to unravel the tangle of loan matters 
were more successful than those of his predecessor. 
Fraud and negligence greatly added to his troubles, for 
a large number of bonds made out “ to bearer ” were 
actually on sale in the London Stock Market, in Holland 
and other countries of the Continent. 

Negligence on the part of Liberia is presumed to have 
been responsible for this flood of bonds “ to bearer.” 
In 1898, the year of the Spanish-American War, the 
138 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


139 


Liberian Government agreed to pay a progressive 
interest at three to five per cent. Since that time the 
interest, which is on a loan of from seventy to eighty 
thousand pounds, has risen to four per cent, and has been 
paid without default. 

This unusually honorable settlement with holders of 
Liberian bonds, particularly honorable in respect to the 
Liberian Republic, was achieved by Arthur Barclay, 
then Secretary of the Treasury. 

The text of this agreement is as follows: 

“ Liberian Government 7 per cent. External loan 
of 1871. 

Bases of Agreement submitted by the Honorable A. 
Barclay, Secretary of the Treasury, and the Hon. J. C. 
Stevens, Attorney-General of the Government of Li¬ 
beria, of the one part, and approved by the Committee 
of Liberian Bondholders acting in conjunction with the 
Council of Foreign Bondholders of the other part. 

I. The interest on the debt to be reduced as follows: 

3 per cent for three years; per cent for three years; 

4 per cent for three years, the present rate of interest; 
4i per cent for three years; 5 per cent thereafter until 
extinction. Interest to be paid half yearly in gold in 
London, by a banking house to be appointed by the 
Government of Liberia and approved by the Council. 
The first payment of interest to be made on October 
1st, 1899. 

II. Amortization of the principal of the bonds, de¬ 
posited with the Council under this arrangement, in 


140 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


accordance with Article VIII, to commence after five 
years, viz.: On October 1st, 1904, by means of an accu¬ 
mulative sinking fund of 1 per cent per annum, to be 
applied half yearly by purchases on the market or by 
tenders as the Government may decide, when the price 
of the bonds is under par, or by drawings for redemp¬ 
tion at par when the price is at or above par. The 
government reserves the right to increase the sinking 
fund at any time, or to put it into operation at an earlier 
date. 

III. For the arrears of interest reckoned up to March 
31st, 1899, the Council of Foreign Bondholders will 
issue non-interest bearing certificates, which shall be 
redeemed in the following manner: After the extinction 
of the principal of the debt, the Government of Liberia 
will continue to remit in the manner hereinbefore pro¬ 
vided, for a period of four years, the like amount of 
interest and sinking fund payable at the date of such 
extinction in respect of the amount of bonds which may be 
deposited with the Council within the period prescribed 
by Article VIII. This sum shall be applied by the bank¬ 
ers charged with the service of the debt to the redemp¬ 
tion of the certificates, either by a pro rata payment or 
by half yearly drawings as may be determined by the 
Council in conjunction with the committee. The 
Government of Liberia is entitled to purchase certificates 
on the market at any time if it so desires, and to partici¬ 
pate with the holders of the other outstanding certifi¬ 
cates in the fund appropriated for their redemption. 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


141 


IV. As security for the service of the debt the Govern¬ 
ment especially exports direct to the Consul-General for 
Liberia in London, and to be handed by him to the bank 
charged with the service of the debt. Any sums hereafter 
paid to the Government by the existing Liberian Rubber 
Syndicate, or any other syndicate or company that may 
succeed it, are to be applied in like manner to the service 
of the debt. 

V. Should the product of the rubber export duties 
within the first five years amount to more than is re¬ 
quired for the payment of the interest on the debt at the 
rates set forth in Article I, such surplus shall be applied 
to amortization, or if after the fifth year there should be 
a surplus from the same source after providing for the 
payment of interest and the accumulative sinking fund 
of 1 per cent as set forth in Article II such surplus shall 
be applied to additional amortization. 

VI. The service of the debt shall be further secured 
on the general customs revenue of the Republic, it 
being understood that the acceptance of these bases of 
arrangement on the part of the Council and Committee 
is contingent on some effective control of the collection 
of the customs duties satisfactory to the committee be¬ 
ing established, and that any deficiency in the product 
of the rubber export duties required for the service of the 
External Debt is to constitute a first charge on the reve¬ 
nues derived from the general customs revenue, subject 
only to the expenses of collection and the payment of 
interest not exceeding 6 per cent per annum on any ad- 


142 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


vance made by the syndicate or company which may be 
formed to undertake the collection of the said revenues. 
In any event the full sum required in gold for the half 
yearly service of the debt is to be in the hands of the 
bankers in London at least a fortnight before the due 
date of the coupons as altered under this arrangement. 
The Government will also at the same time pay the bank 
the usual commission for administering the debt service. 

VII. The bonds of 1871 are to be lodged with the 
Council, and stamped on their face as assenting to 
the new arrangement, and the coupons endorsed with the 
altered dates and rates of payment in accordance with 
Article I, or new coupon sheets are to be printed and at¬ 
tached to the bonds. If any stamp duty in England is 
involved in this operation the cost shall be borne by the 
Government of Liberia. 

VIII. In order to participate in this arrangement 
the bonds must be deposited with the Council of Foreign 
Bondholders within one year from the date of its ac¬ 
ceptance by the bondholders. 

IX. In the event of default of any payment con¬ 
templated by this arrangement, or of failure to carry out 
the terms thereof, the existing rights of the bondholders 
to revive. 

X. This arrangement is subject to ratification first 
by the Legislature of Liberia, and afterwards by resolu¬ 
tion of a general meeting of bondholders to be convened 
by the Council. 

XI. A reasonable sum to be paid by the Liberian 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


143 


Government to the Council for their expenses and ser¬ 
vices, to be settled between them and the Consul-General 
of Liberia. 

London, the 28th day of September, 1898. 

For the Government of Liberia: 

Arthur Barclay, Secretary of Treasury, 

J. C. Stevens, Attorney-General. 

For the Committee of Liberian Bondholders: 

G. W. Fremantle, Vice-president of the Council, 
Acting Chairman]\ 


CHAPTER XXIX 


Boundary Troubles with Sierra Leone 

Rumors of gold mines near Musadu agitated Liberia 
in 1871, during Roberts’ last term, and the explorer, 
Benjamin Anderson, was again sent to the hinterland, 
this time to ascertain the truth of these reports. He 
did not succeed in finding any mineral wealth, and his 
travels in the jungles of the interior brought nothing new 
to light in a geographical sense. The prestige of Li¬ 
beria among the native tribes was, however, considerably 
heightened by this expedition. 

At about this time, relations were again strained be¬ 
tween Liberia and Sierra Leone. The Vai, once more 
grown restless under the aggressions of the notorious 
Harris, had risen in force and destroyed his factories on 
the Mano and Mafi rivers. As usual, the governor of 
Sierra Leone stood behind the trader, and demanded a 
new indemnity in addition to that of 1869, which had 
not been paid. 

Roberts agreed to settle the first matter in 1872, but 
denied the justice of the second claim. The matter 
lapsed until 1878, when it was again brought to life by 
Sir Samuel Rowe, Governor of Sierra Leone. He de¬ 
manded that the second indemnity of more than eight 
144 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


145 


thousand pounds be paid, and at the same time declared 
that the British Government would establish a protecto¬ 
rate along the coast to the Mano River to keep order 
among the native tribes. 

In 1870 Lord Granville and Roye had agreed that a 
mixed commission should be appointed to discuss the 
question of Liberian rights west of the Sulima. Gran¬ 
ville had added that Great Britain did not bind herself 
to recognize Liberian dominion beyond that stream. 
In the meantime, Roberts had been succeeded by J. S. 
Payne, who in turn was followed by Anthony William 
Gardner in 1878. 

Gardner agreed to the assembly of a boundary com¬ 
mission at Sierra Leone, and the Liberian and British 
delegates arrived there on December 29. Even British 
historians admit that the treatment of the Liberian 
diplomats and commissioners in Sierra Leone was cava¬ 
lier in the extreme, and assert that the proceedings of the 
commission were neither fair nor impartial. 

While the question was allowed to consume more and 
more time, the British officials brought all the pressure 
possible to bear on the native chiefs west of the Mano. 
Coercion may have been resorted to to make the kings 
and headsmen deny that their predecessors had ever ceded 
their lands to the Liberian Republic. 

At any rate, in thirty years various tribes had risen 
in power, while others had fallen in importance. New 
racial divisions had displaced those with whom Roberts 
had made treaties twenty-nine years before, and the 


146 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


entire tribal characteristics of the land had undergone 
some change. 

The British commissioners had their eyes on Cape 
Mount, and endeavored to secure that strategic point by 
coercing the Liberians into declaring the Mafi or Mano 
River the Sierra Leon e-Liberian frontier. The question 
of indemnity due to Harris and other British traders, 
whom the Yais were said to have attacked, was also the 
subject of much acrimonious and heated debate. Finally 
the commission split up without arriving at a satisfac¬ 
tory settlement of any question. 

In 1879 an unfortunate incident further endangered 
the Republic, already shaken by British aggressions and 
the failure of the Chinery loan. Near Nana Kru, the 
natives of the coast had maltreated the crew and pas¬ 
sengers of a German steamer, the Carlos, which had 
crashed on the rocks near the Dewa River. At once a 
German man-of-war, the Victoria, steamed for the Li¬ 
berian coast, and bombarded the Kru towns about the 
scene of the wreck. After this act of summary ven¬ 
geance, the battleship proceeded to Monrovia, and a 
claim against Liberia was deposited which was paid by 
the cooperation of the European merchants settled at 
Monrovia. Might is often called right, and whether 
the little Republic was responsible or not, it paid the 
claim. 


CHAPTER XXX 


Liberia in 1880 

In 1876 a pest in the form of burrowing fleas or 
“ jiggers ” came to Liberia on a ship from the Portuguese 
Island of Sao Thome. The “ jigger ” spread over the 
coastal belt of Liberia, but is much less apparent at the 
present time than a few years ago. 

President Gardner was made a Knight Grand Cross of 
the Spanish Order of Isabella Catolica in 1879, and 
resolved to initiate an order of chivalry peculiar to Li¬ 
beria. This was named the Order of African Redemp¬ 
tion. 

Under Gardner’s presidency, on April 1st, 1879, 
Liberia joined the Universal Postal Union. 

In 1877 there had been a fresh accession of Negro 
colonists from Louisiana who were mainly distributed 
about the Lower St. Paul’s River. Some of these subse¬ 
quently returned to America. One of them was Rev. 
M. H. Mahaffey, whose wife was so affected by the re¬ 
turn to America that she lost her mind, jumped over¬ 
board from the ship and was drowned. Rev. Mahaffey 
was foully murdered in 1913, near Gainesville, Fla. 

No immigration of any organized or important kind 
has taken place subsequently from America, though 
individuals from the United States and the West Indies 
147 


148 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


have from time to time found their way to Liberia and 
settled there more or less permanently. 

In 1880 it is probable that the total Americo-Liberian 
population was ten thousand in number. The birth 
rate was small, and the somewhat slow increase at most 
atoned for the departure of dissatisfied colonists and the 
heavy death rate from disease. 

It is a fact that Americans are no less susceptible to 
African fevers than Europeans. Full-blooded Negroes 
are least affected by the climate, and mulattoes suffer 
less than quadroons. As a result, the pure Negro type 
has increased in Liberia, while the half-breed is dying 
out. 

In 1880 a rather foolish system of caste was main¬ 
tained between Christian Negroes from America and 
the indigines of Liberia. Marriages or illicit unions 
between Americo-Liberian men and native women were 
frowned upon almost equally, although some of the 
Yai and Man dingo girls are strikingly beautiful* 

Different observers declare that Liberia is dependent 
for its population upon the inter-marriage of the 
natives with the emigrants, who will infuse a new blood 
into the coming generation. Some, indeed, go so far 
as to state that persons of color from America or Europe 
should obtain wives direct from the African Continent. 

After 1880 public spirit in Liberia was taking a more 
African turn, perhaps on account of a feeling of disap¬ 
pointment in regard to the results of Negro repatriation. 

During this time, the philanthropists of the United 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


149 


States and Britain vied with one another in contributing 
towards the endowment of Liberia College and the Col¬ 
lege of West Africa. In England, Robert Arthington, of 
Leeds, was the leader in the work. A settlement on the 
St. Paul’s River has since been named for him. 

Only for a short time did Sierra Leone abandon its 
hostile policy towards Liberia, and in 1880, Sir Arthur 
Havelock, who had succeeded Sir Samuel Rowe as Gover¬ 
nor of that colony, again took up the frontier question. 
He demanded that British influence should extend over 
the region between the Sherbro and the Mano River, 
and also that Harris’ indemnity of eight thousand five 
hundred pounds should be paid in full. 

Sir Arthur Havelock, who was, unluckily, also consul- 
general for Britain in Liberia, arrived off Monrovia with 
four gunboats on March 20, 1882, and ordered the Li¬ 
berian Government to cede its territory and to pay the 
claims of British traders. 

This display of force by Britain caused President 
Gardner to appoint the Minister of the Interior, Dr. 
Edward Blyden, to parley with Havelock. The latter 
agreed to pay for the damages caused by the Vai in 1871, 
and to abandon all Liberian territorial rights to her 
lands west of the Mafi River. . In return, Sir Arthur 
solemnly promised to intercede for the line of the Mano 
River instead, and asserted that the British Govern¬ 
ment would repay to Liberia all the money spent by the 
latter since 1849 in buying land west of the Mano. 

The treaty signed, Havelock and his gunboats went 


150 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


back to Sierra Leone, but the Senate was more coura¬ 
geous than its leaders, and rejected the treaty, while 
instant opposition to its harsh terms was displayed all 
over the country. 

Liberia declared herself ready to have the matter 
arbitrated, as the entire dispute arose more or less from 
the fact that Liberia could not use armed force to re¬ 
strain the arrogant British traders who had established 
themselves within her boundaries. Their aggressions 
served to stir up the natives, and the result was almost 
incessant turmoil. 

Back to Liberia on September 7, 1882, came Sir Arthur 
Havelock and his gunboats. The governor demanded 
an immediate ratification of the treaty, but was now 
vigorously opposed by President Gardner. The Li¬ 
berian executive had had time to prepare a defence, and 
asked Havelock why, if the contested territory were 
British, England should claim any indemnity for tribal 
risings therein. On the other hand if Liberia did pay 
an indemnity, why should her lands by right of priority 
and of purchase be snatched from her? Gardner was 
supported by the Senate, which vigorously opposed any 
ratification of the treaty. 

All attempts to coerce Liberia having failed, the 
Government of Sierra Leone, in March, 1883, by force 
took over all the territory from the Sherbro to the Mano 
River. This territory had cost Liberia approximately 
twenty thousand pounds ($100,000) to buy, main¬ 
tain, and pay indemnities. Small wonder that Gardner 



Bishop Ferguson 


Bishop I. B. Scott, M. E. Church 






HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


151 


was so indignant at the insult that he left office almost 
immediately as a protest against these high-handed 
methods. 

According to custom, the vice-president, A. F. Russell, 
completed Gardner’s term. On January 1, 1884, a 
diplomat and a native Liberian entered the Presiden¬ 
tial chair, Hilary Richard Wright Johnson, a pro¬ 
fessor at Liberia College and a former Secretary of 
State. He was born in Liberia during 1837, and was 
a son of the pioneer, Elijah Johnson. True to his 
diplomatic training, he at once commenced to regulate 
the action taken by the British Government in 1883. 
These negotiations finally resulted in the treaty of No¬ 
vember 11th, 1885, which was subsequently ratified by 
both governments. By this the boundary of Liberia 
on the west commences at the mouth of the river Mano. 

The Treaty of 1885 runs thus: 

“ The line marking the northwestern boundary of the 
Republic of Liberia shall commence at the point on the 
seacoast at which, at low water, the line of the south¬ 
eastern or left bank of the Mano River intersects 
the general line of the seacoast, and shall be continued 
along the line marked by low water on the southeastern 
or left bank of the Mano River, until such line, or such 
line prolonged in a northeastern direction, intersects 
the line or the prolongation of the line marking the 
northeastern or inland boundary of the territories of 
the Republic, with such deviations as may hereafter be 
found necessary to place within Liberian territory the 


152 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


town of Boporo and such other towns as shall be here¬ 
after acknowledged to have belonged to the Republic 
at the time of the signing of this Convention.” 

The question was finally set at rest by further negotia¬ 
tions in 1902, which resulted in the Anglo-Liberian 
boundary commission in 1903. The same treaty also 
provided for the repayment to Liberia of 4,750 pounds, 
which was intended to reimburse Liberia for sums 
originally paid between 1849 and 1856 for the pur¬ 
chase of some of these contested territories. 


CHAPTER XXXI 


Boundary Troubles with France 

At about this time France, which had severely cen¬ 
sured the British Government for its aggressions on 
Liberia, decided to do a little plundering on its own be¬ 
half. As has been before mentioned, by the purchase of 
coastal lands, the Republic of Maryland, and finally 
that of Liberia, extended eastwards along the Ivory 
Coast about sixty miles from the Cavalla, that is to 
say, to the river San Pedro. 

The entire Kru tribe inhabited these limits, so that it 
was as much a racial boundary as a geographical one. 
Up to 1888, this strip of coastland was recognized as 
being Liberian territory, although in 1885, the Bulletin 
des Lois published a decree extending the territory of 
France to the Cavalla and even beyond, to the town of 
Garawe, past Cape Palmas. France also began to ad¬ 
vance some ridiculously slight claims to Cape Mount 
and to the original site of Petit Dieppe (Grand Basa). 
Upon hearing of these intentions in 1891, Lord Salisbury, 
acting for the British Government, attempted to induce 
France to restrain her aggressions to “ reasonable ” 
limits. 

The French boundary was drawn at the Cavalla. 
The Liberians protested in vain against this spoliation, 
153 


154 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


but, receiving no assurances of support either from the 
United States or Great Britain, were fain to conclude a 
treaty with France on December 8th, 1892, according 
to which the river Cavalla became the boundary between 
France and Liberia from its mouth, as far as a point 
situated about twenty miles to the south of its conflu¬ 
ence with the river Fodeduga-ba, at the intersection 
of the parallel 3°30 north latitude and the (Paris) 
meridian 9°12 of west longitude. This starting-point 
of Franco-Liberian delimitation on the river Cavalla 
is determined in the most contradictory manner. 

The treaty first says that it shall be situated at a 
point on the Cavalla about twenty miles to the south of 
its confluence with the river Fodeduga-ba, which was 
at that time supposed to be an affluent of the Cavalla. 
But the treaty supplements this definition by adding the 
words, “ at the intersection of the parallel 6°30 north 
latitude and the Paris meridian 9° 12 of west longitude.” 
At the date this treaty was drawn up, almost nothing 
was known of the course of the river Cavalla. The name 
Fodeduga-ba is a Man din go word, apparently, for a river 
or water course which under varying forms appears and 
reappears constantly in the Upper Niger Basin. The 
river which is indicated under this name in the Franco- 
Liberian treaty is obviously the main course, Dugu or 
Duyu, of the river Cavalla. This was confused by na¬ 
tive tradition with a real “ Fodeduga-ba ” which occurs 
a great deal farther to the north as an affluent of the 
Sasandra River. 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


155 


In addition they went on to postulate that twenty 
miles below the confluence of these two streams the 
main course of the Cavalla would be intersected by 6°30' 
north latitude, and 9°12, Paris, west longitude. From 
this, “ Point at a point,” so contradictorily fixed on the 
Cavalla, the boundary was then to be carried along 
3°30 parallel of north latitude as far west as the Paris 
meridian 10° of longitude, with this proviso, that the 
basin of the Grand Sesters River should belong 
to Liberia and the basin of the Fodeduga-ba to 
France. Then the boundary was to be carried north 
along the 10th meridian of Paris to the intersection of 
7th degree of north latitude, and from this point in a 
northwesterly direction until the latitude of Tembi 
Kunda was reached, after which the boundary was 
carried west along the latitude of Tembi Kunda till it 
intersected the British frontier near that place. At that 
time it was supposed by both French and English that 
Tembi Kunda is in about latitude 8°35 . Subsequent 
surveys, however, show that Tembi Kunda is in about 
9°5 . All these lines drawn by latitudes and longitudes 
from 7° north latitude to Tembi Kunda were, however, 
to be inflected and inverted should they conflict with 
the basin of the Niger and its affluents, all of which were 
to belong to France. It was also decided that the 
Mandingo towns of “ Bamaquilla,” and “ Mahommo- 
dou ” should belong to France. 

This treaty, coupled with the Sierra Leone settlement, 
enabled the territory of Liberia to appear on maps of 


156 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


Africa with some greater definiteness of outline and 
without the fantastic zigzags introduced by Anderson’s 
surveys. These two treaties, like a mighty vise, are 
endeavoring to more completely confine the bounds of 
the little Republic. 

President Hilary Johnson died in 1898. He had 
received several decorations from European powers 
and was much respected. After his retirement from the 
Presidency he took up the position of Postmaster- 
General. He had been chiefly responsible for negotiat¬ 
ing this frontier treaty with France but retired from the 
Presidency before it was concluded, on January 1st, 
1892, and was succeeded by President Joseph James 
Cheeseman, who occupied the chief magistracy till his 
death in November, 1896. Cheeseman was followed by 
William David Coleman, first as Vice-president and 
later as President. 


CHAPTER XXXII 


The Third Grebo War. Concessions in Mining 
and Rubber 

More trouble broke out on the lower Cavalla River 
in 1893, when the warlike Grebos, excited by the ag¬ 
gressions of the French, tried to capture an Americo- 
Liberian settlement near Harper by assault. After 
several disasters to Liberian arms, the steamer Gorrono- 
mah was sent to the scene of the “ Third Grebo War,” 
and co-operating with Gen. R. A. Sherman, who com¬ 
manded the land forces, gained a final victory over the 
natives. 

Three years later the tribe again waged war on the 
settlers, but so strong had Liberia’s ^rmy then become 
that the Grebos were almost instantly put down with 
little loss to the Liberians. General R. A. Sherman, the 
mulatto officer, who had the record of directing the 
greater part of these punitive expeditions, died in 1894 
and was buried with all military honors. 

Up to 1880, there had been no thought of European 
development of Liberian resources, but in that year talk 
of “ concessions ” in mining or in rubber was begun. 
Such a concession might well prove a financial success 
for the state. 

Eleven years before, the Mining Company of Liberia 
was established and given special rights by the Govern- 
157 


158 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


ment. However, it failed to raise sufficient capital for 
the working of these mining rights. In 1881 this was 
transformed into the Union Mining Company, and to it 
was granted a charter containing important privileges. 
This chartered company was to languish in inaction, 
since it was unable on a purely Liberian basis to raise 
any capital for its purposes. 

The belief in mineral wealth in Liberia then, and per¬ 
haps one may add now, lingers in the air of Liberia, as 
Benjamin Anderson has written a great deal that is 
alluring about mines of fabulous wealth in the vicinity 
of Musadu, which, however, he had not been allowed to 
visit. He tried to reach these regions in 1874, but failed. 
The wonderful gold mines of Buley (Bula) have not been 
discovered as yet. 

The rubber royalties were afterwards applied to the 
service of the Liberian debt. The concession, after 
passing through several hands, was finally bought by the 
Chartered Company, and has now become the Liberian 
Rubber Corporation. 

The results of Prof. Buttikofer’s journeys have con¬ 
siderably increased the knowledge of the coastal geog¬ 
raphy of Liberia. 

From 1880 to 1890, German interest in Liberia began 
to increase, partly through the publication of Butti- 
kofer’s work on the fauna of the Republic, and also 
through the Hamburg Company of Woermann, who had 
been trading on the West Coast since 1850, and had 
established factories all along the Liberian seaboard. 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


159 


Elder Dempster, the British House, has since 1855 
conducted a steamer service between Liverpool and 
various ports of Liberia, but for some time the line was 
in a way unsatisfactory, for the ships were slow and 
uncomfortable. 

This was remedied a short time after the Woer- 
mann line had installed its service of a monthly express 
boat from Monrovia to Hamburg and Southampton 
and had put on the route modern and comfortable 
steamers of good speed. 

Naturally, these efforts on the part of the Woermann 
Company served to improve the English service, and the 
rivalry was most beneficial for Liberian commerce and 
communication with the Continent. 

During the last years of the nineteenth century Kru- 
men came into more demand as sailors on European 
ships. For nearly a century, they had been the sea¬ 
faring tribe of West Africa, and had survived all at¬ 
tempts of slave traders to lure them into captivity. 
To this day there are many Kruboys in the British Navy, 
particularly in vessels of the Cape and West African 
flotillas. As English tars, they sailed up and down the 
coast from the Gambia to Cape Town. 

They engaged in service with all the commercial 
houses: British, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, 
Belgian, and Portuguese, along the coast of West 
Africa, from Sierra Leone to Mossamedes. 

They generally formed the boats’ crew up and down 
the coast. This race accepted the settlement by the 


160 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


Americo-Liberians on either side of their country with 
good-humored tolerance until attempts were made to 
maintain law and order within the Kru country. 

Kru labor is sought after everywhere and shows that 
the African is not the shiftless fellow that many writers 
claim him to be. France snapped up the sixty-mile 
stretch of coast between the San Pedro and the Cavalla, 
so as to have under her own flag a supply of Kru 
labor. 

Several attempts were made by the German house of 
Woermann to obtain a concession for the recruiting and 
exporting of Kru labor, and regulations governing this 
recruitment were from time to time drawn up by the 
Liberian Government. 

The Monrovian Government in 1893 strengthened its 
position among the Krumen — by securing declarations 
on the part of their chiefs of adhesion to the Govern¬ 
ment of Liberia—to put a stop to foreign intrigue in this 
direction. President Coleman favored vigorous measures 
to subdue the tribes of the hinterland around the St. 
Paul’s River, and in 1900 commenced a disastrous 
attempt to carry Liberian influence into the northwest 
regions of Liberia. His plans met with a rude jolt when 
his expedition was totally defeated and utterly routed 
by the very tribes it had been sent to subdue. The 
Liberian Cabinet was thoroughly in opposition to Cole¬ 
man’s domestic policies as regarded the natives, and he 
resigned in flavor of Vice-president Garretson Wilmot 
Gibson, the president-elect. 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


161 


Gibson's ideas on domestic affairs were in great con¬ 
trast with those of Coleman, and under his direction the 
development of the Republic took a great stride forward. 
To facilitate this development, and especially that of the 
hinterland, the agent of the Union Mining Company 
offered the charter of that firm to Lt.-Col. Cecil Powney, 
the chairman of a British syndicate. 

To clear up all difficulties concerning the tenure of the 
charter and the necessary sanction of the Liberian 
Government, Sir Simeon Stuart and T. H. Myring went 
to the Republic as accredited agents of the syndicate. 

An agreement to buy up the charter was entered into, 
and the Liberian Congress in December, 1901, sanc¬ 
tioned the transfer of the charter from the Union Mining 
Company to the West African Gold Concessions Limited. 
Some minor changes were introduced into the charter, 
and further modifications were made in August, 1904, 
and January, 1906. By this charter, mining rights in two 
counties, those of Montserrado and Maryland, and bank¬ 
ing, railway, telegraph, and other rights throughout 
Liberia are consigned to the company. The Chartered 
Company, between 1902 and 1904, dispatched six expedi¬ 
tions to search the hinterland for minerals, and in 1903 
engaged Mr. Alexander Whyte to make a thorough 
investigation of the Liberian flora. The results of Mr. 
Whyte’s work have been of some importance to science; 
he has done for the flora of Liberia what Buttikofer did 
for the fauna. 


CHAPTER XXXIII 


President Arthur Barclay 

In 1904, President Arthur Barclay succeeded the Hon. 
G. W. Gibson, and immediately began a policy of concilia¬ 
tion toward the tribes of the Liberian hinterland. Bar¬ 
clay was a native of Barbados, had come to Liberia in 
1885, and had served in the legal, judicial, financial, 
and other departments of the Liberian Government. 
He was first Clerk of the House of Representatives, 
Judge of the Court of Quarter Sessions, Sub-Treasurer 
at Montserrado, Postmaster General and Secretary of 
the Treasury. 

He proceeded to hold at Monrovia a Congress or Con¬ 
vention of kings, headmen and chiefs from the hinter¬ 
land, and more particularly the Gora, Boporo, and 
Kpwesi countries. This conference served to greatly 
improve trade relations between the Americo-Liberians 
and the indigines, and other meetings of Kru and Grebo 
men of authority followed. Missions were also dis¬ 
patched under native commissioners to the interior and 
up the Cavalla and St. Paul rivers, oftentimes a hundred 
miles, to endeavor to develop commerce with the coast, 
to hoist the Liberian flag and to prevent tribal wars and 
skirmishes. 

President Barclay struck the keynote of his policy 
of domestic government when he stated that he con- 
162 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


163 


sidered all Negroes inhabiting Liberia to be Liberians, 
and had no wish to drive out native Negroes in favor of 
colonists of the coast. This gave a more than effective 
answer to the French claim that a lack of “ occupation ” 
was noticeable in Liberia on account of absence of 
“Americo-Liberian” settlements in the hinterland. 

France in reality had little right to make such an 
assertion, for the Mohammedan Negroes, who are virtu¬ 
ally French subjects, are steadily penetrating the Li¬ 
berian hinterland and driving the tribes of the forest 
farther and farther back into the jungles. 

Coming first as peaceful settlers, these Mohammedan 
French Negroes have been much more active in ousting 
the indigines than have the Liberian colonists. 

President Gibson had effected the demarcation of the 
Anglo-Liberian boundary from the mouth of the Mano 
to Tembi Kunda, and in 1904 President Barclay, anxious 
to carry on the work of his predecessor, aided a French- 
Liberian commission to carry out the same scheme in 
regard to the French frontier. 

From 1898 to 1900 another most remarkable journey 
of exploration had been added to the several notable 
expeditions into Liberia which had served to arouse 
French land-hunger as regards Liberian territory. This 
expedition was under the joint command of a colonial 
official of the Ivory Coast, M. Hostains, and a military 
officer, Captain D’Ollone. They started on February 
19th, 1899. Their journey was the most remarkable 
piece of exploration that has yet been accomplished in 


164 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


the Liberian hinterland, for this French expedition was 
the first to reveal with any approach to accuracy the 
configuration of the Cavalla basin. It also discovered 
the lofty Nimba Mountains, and enabled us to make a 
more accurate guess at the sources and affluents of the 
St. Paul’s River. Their journey threw a beam of bright 
light through the dark Liberian hinterland. 

Therefore, in 1904, proposals and counter proposals 
on the part of France and Liberia were made in regard 
to the drawing of the boundary line on the northern and 
eastern frontiers of the Republic. In the first place, a 
more accurate delineation of the frontier was rendered 
necessary, inasmuch as the treaty of 1892 had not been 
founded on geographical facts. 

The proposals of France, which were finally agreed to 
by Liberia, caused the cession by the Republic of a 
portion of the basin of the Makona in the northwest, but 
on the other hand, assured her undisputed possession of 
the entire western basin of the Cavalla. The whole 
basin of the river St. Paul was also given over to Li¬ 
beria. By this treaty, much valuable territory in both 
the regions of the northeast and northwest-is lost to the 
little Republic, which, however, secures the territory 
previously mentioned, and attains a much more easily 
marked frontier in the course of the Cavalla from source 
to mouth. This is also the line of water-parting between 
the river systems of the Niger and the St. Paul’s and the 
main course of the Makona as far as the Anglo-Liberian 
frontier. 


CHAPTER XXXIV 


Education in Liberia and the Needs of the Natives 

According to the report of the Superintendent of 
Public Instruction for 1904, there were more than five 
thousand pupils in the public schools and mission schools 
of the Republic. The average yearly expenditure for 
education was twenty-five thousand dollars, not includ¬ 
ing an extra ten thousand dollars which was annually 
devoted to the College of Liberia. 

The staff of the public and mission schools was com¬ 
posed of the most efficient teachers that could be found. 
The government has agreed to give free tuition in the 
public schools, if the various parents will consent to pay 
for the books which their children use. 

The College of West Africa has a large student body 
and a competent corps of teachers. This university is 
largely supported by the Methodist Episcopal Church 
and ranks with the best colleges of Africa. 

Denominational schools, including those of the Episco¬ 
pal Church, are doing a great work in Liberia, and the 
entire educational system is unusually efficient. 

At that period (1904), the greatest need of the country 
in an educational way was a complete plant to publish 
adequate school books for the various institutions, col¬ 
leges and schools. 


165 


166 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


It has been observed that the great flaw in the Li¬ 
berian system of education is that the ideas of the native 
African have been too much subordinated to the culture 
of the Anglo-Saxon, and that this neglect of the customs 
of the natives has in Liberia, as in other sections of 
Africa, hindered the spread of education throughout 
the land. 

Many of the missionaries who are now sent to Africa 
would fail if they attempted the same work at home. 
Hence, Liberia’s great need is a well-selected number of 
missionaries to work among the natives. 

The missionary, oftentimes bred and shaped only in 
his little denominational groove, is prone to overlook 
what is good and noble in the culture of the native 
Africans. To impress the ideas and ideals of the white 
race upon the African, without adequate consideration 
of his own peculiar culture, is a mistake often made. 

Along sociological lines alone, there are elements in 
the customs of the natives which merit extended con¬ 
sideration. For instance, why should the native African 
or the native Liberian, the Kru or the Mandingo adopt 
our system of marriage? 

Why should he adopt our dress? The Mandingo robe 
is wholly suited to the needs of that tribe, and European 
clothes are unnecessary as they are incongruous when 
worn by a native. The dress question should be gov¬ 
erned rather by the requirements of the climate and the 
need of the individual than by any arbitrary ruling 
of church or state. 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


167 


Again the question of ethics appears. Ethics in 
China are peculiar to China; so are they in Japan; in 
the North and in the South, and likewise in Africa, 
they are peculiar to the country of their origin. 

Climates and people and conditions make and shape 
them, and the viewpoints of right and of wrong are in¬ 
numerable. Christ is for all, but the modes of worship 
vary in Africa, even as they do in those countries where 
civilization is at its highest. 


The Presidents of Liberia College from 1862 to 1913 


Hon. Joseph J. Roberts, LL.D. 1862 to 1876 

Prof. M. H. Freeman (Acting) . 1879 to 1880 

Rev. Edward W. Blyden, D.D., LL.D. 1881 to 1890 


Rev. Garrison W. Gibson, D.D. 

Rev. O. F. Cook (White). 

Rev. Garrison W. Gibson, D.D., LL.D. 1900 to 1902 

Rev. Robert B. Richardson, D.D., LL.D. 1903 to 1912 

Hon. Robert J. Clarke (Acting) Aug. 8 to Oct. 14.. . 1912 

Rev. John A. Simpson, D.D. (Acting) Oct. 15. 1912 to 1913 











CHAPTER XXXV 


Population. Religion 

The approximate total coast population of “civilized” 
Liberians, mostly Christian, and of mixed American 
and indigenous Negro races, amounts to 50,000. The 
“ Liberian ” community, therefore, at the present time 
amounts to a population in the coast regions of about 
60,000 in number. In 1914 a large number of persons 
from the United States, thirty-eight in number going 
from Jacksonville, Fla., were added to the citizenry. 
The writer of this book lives but a few blocks from the 
wharf where these persons took ship for Africa. 

The Protestant Episcopal Church started work in 
Liberia in 1830. A few years later the First Missionary 
Bishop was elected, Bishop Auer. The second Bishop 
was the celebrated John Payne, who worked among the 
Grebo of Cape Palmas. The present Bishop is a colored 
man, the Right Rev. Samuel David Ferguson, D.D., 
born at Charlestown in the United States, but settled 
in Liberia since 1848; his picture herein appears. He 
was elected Bishop in 1884 and consecrated in 1885. He 
attended the Lambeth Conference in 1897 and was one 
of the Bishops received in audience by Queen Victoria. 
He also attended the Conference at Richmond, Va., 
168 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


169 


U. S. A., 1912. His death was a great loss to the 
Church as well as Liberia. 

Under the Protestant Episcopal Church, Liberia is 
divided into four districts, Mesurado, Basa, Sino, and 
Cape Palmas. These again are divided into a number 
of sub-districts. Nearly every Americo-Liberian settle¬ 
ment has a church or school belonging to this body. 

At Cape Mount the Protestant Episcopal Church 
has a fine establishment, the Irving Memorial Church, 
Langford Memorial Hall and St. George’s Hall. 

The residence of the Bishop is at Monrovia. This 
church maintains, besides the Bishop, 19 clergy, 70 
catechists and teachers, 38 day schools, 18 boarding 
schools, and 31 Sunday schools. It gives instruction 
to over 3,500 pupils. Dr. N. H. B. Cassell is among 
the leading preachers. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church started in 1832. Its 
work in Liberia is controlled by the Methodist Episco¬ 
pal Church, Right Rev. Joseph C. Hartzell, D.D., a 
well-known and much-respected personage in West, 
South, and Southeast Africa, supervised the American 
missionary work in Western Africa between Liberia and 
Angola, and in Rhodesia and Mozambique for 16 years. 
The Associate in Liberia was a colored man, Bishop 
Isaac B. Scott. Bishop Scott had a most wonderful 
success and under his administration the membership 
doubled. He spent 12 years there. He and Bishop 
Hartzell have been retired. They were succeeded in 
Liberia by Bishop J. C. Camphor. Bishop Camphor, 


170 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


while visiting the U. S. of America, succumbed to 
pneumonia in 1919. 

Bishop M. W. Clair of Washington, D. C., was elected 
at Des Moines, la., May, 1920, along with Bishop R. E. 
Jones, being the first regular Negro bishops elected in 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. Bishop Clair goes 
to Liberia. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church has about 13,700 
adherents, 48 ministers and missionaries, 42 day teach¬ 
ers, 61 Sunday schools, and 10,000 scholars. 

The Presbyterian Church: Presbyterian missionaries 
began work in Liberia in 1832. Their operations are 
chiefly confined to Monrovia and the St. Paul’s settle¬ 
ments. 

The Baptist Church: Earliest of all Christian churches, 
the American Baptist entered Liberia, in 1821, to perform 
chaplain’s duties for the American colonists. Their 
first pastor was Rev. Mr. Waring, the father of Miss 
Jane Waring, who married President Roberts, the first- 
President of Liberia. The Baptists have most of their 
adherents in Monrovia and Basa settlements. 

The African Methodist Episcopal Church began 
work in Liberia in 1885. It has mission stations in three 
counties of Liberia. Bishop Heard and Bishop Ross 
served a short time. But the A. M. E. Gen. Conference 
elected in May, 1920, Bishop W. Sampson Brooks of 
Baltimore, who like Bishop Clair of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church will sail for Liberia about September. 

The Lutheran Church is represented in the St. Paul’s 


HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


171 


River district, with stations at Arthington and Mount 
Coffee. 

There are Mohammedan mosques at Vanswa, Brewer- 
ville, and of course in the far interior Mandingo towns. 
Of the approximate 2,000,000 population, about 40,000 
are Christians, about 300,000 Mohammedans, and the 
remainder pagans. 


CHAPTER XXXVI 


The Presidents of Liberia. Term of Office — 
Birth and Death 

Joseph Jenkins Roberts was born in Virginia, March 
14, 1809, served January 1st, 1848 to January 1st, 1856, 
died February 26, 1876 at Monrovia. 

Stephen Allen Benson, born in Maryland, U. S. A., 
1816, served January 1st, 1856, to January 1st, 1864, 
died at Grand Basa, Liberia. 

Daniel Bashiel Warner, born April 18, 1815, U. S. A., 
served January 1st, 1864, to January 1st, 1868, died 
November 30, 1880, at Monrovia. 

James Spriggs Payne, birth unknown, served January 
1st, 1868, to January 1st, 1870, died 1883. 

Edward James Roye, time of birth unknown, served 
January 1st, 1870, to October 19th, 1871 (deposed), 
died 1871. 

(Vice-president) James S. Smith, served October 19th, 
1871, to January 1st, 1872. 

Joseph Jenkins Roberts, served January 1st, 1872, 
to January 1st, 1876. Second term. 

James Spriggs Payne, served January 1st, 1876, to 
January 1st, 1878. Second term. 

Anthony William Gardner, served January 1st, 1878, 
to January 1st, 1883, died 1883. 

172 



President E. James Roye 



Ex-Mayor Fuller of Monrovia 















































■V 



%• 








\ 































< 

























HISTORY OF LIBERIA 


173 


(Vice-president) Alfred F. Russell, served January 
20th, 1883, to January 1st, 1884. 

Hilary Richard Wright Johnson was born June 1st, 
1837, served January 1st, 1884, to January 1st, 1892, 
died February 28th, 1901, at Monrovia. 

Joseph James Cheeseman was born in Ednid, Grand 
Basa, March 7th, 1843, served January 1st, 1892, to 
November 12th, 1896, died November 12th, 1896, at 
Monrovia. 

William David Coleman, born July 18th, 1842, in Ken¬ 
tucky, U. S. A., served as Vice-president into Presidency 
November 12th, 1896, to January 1st, 1898, and January 
1st, 1898, to December 11th, 1900, died July 11th, 1908, 
at Ashland. 

Garretson Wilmot Gibson, born in Maryland, U. S. A. 
May 20th, 1832, served December 11th, 1900, to January 
1st, 1902, and January, 1902, to January 1st, 1904. Died 
April 26th, 1910. 

Arthur Barclay, born July 31st, 1854, served January 
1st, 1904, January 1st, 1906-1912. 

Daniel Edward Howard, born August 1st, 1861, and 
inaugurated President, January 1st, 1912. Re-elected 
1916-1920. Declared war on Germany, 1917. 

C. D. B. King elected 1919, inaugurated January 1st, 
1920. 


CHAPTER XXXVII 


Different Parts of the Government 

(1) The Cabinet 

The Cabinet and Executive usually consists of the 
President, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the 
Treasury (the present officer is J. L. Morris, whose pic¬ 
ture appears among the illustrations), the Attorney- 
General, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of 
War and Navy, and the Postmaster-General. There is 
also an official private secretary to the President. 

(2) The Senate 

The Senate is composed of eight members, two from 
each of the four counties or provinces, Montserrado, 
Basa, Sino, and Maryland. The Senators are selected 
for four and two years. 

(3) The House of Representatives 

The House of Representatives consists of thirteen 
members, four from Montserrado and three from each 
of the other counties. Each member of the House 
receives about $500 per year while serving in that 
capacity; they sit for two years, and are elected bien¬ 
nially. 


174 

















* 














HISTORY OP LIBERIA 


175 


And so we close this short history of Liberia with the 
confident prediction that in due time the little Republic 
will rise in dignity to the position of one of the advanced 
states of the world. 

Already she has produced scholars, statesmen and 
generals of note, and as yet her development is in its 
infancy. One of the youngest Republics of the world, she 
is a member of the postal union and the convention for 
the preservation of big game, and is a leading nation of 
the West Coast. 

Her history is unmarred by atrocities and unblemished 
by thefts of land from the natives. In respect to mineral 
and vegetable wealth, Liberia’s hinterland is almost 
entirely undeveloped, and there is great need for ade¬ 
quate anchorage on the seaboard. 

Monrovia would have one of the best harbors of the 
world if some construction work in the way of jetties 
and breakwaters were done, and a network of roads to 
the interior would assure a considerable Liberian trade. 

Founded as an experiment, decried as a colony, Li¬ 
beria has come out of immeasurable difficulties, the only 
independent Republic in the whole of Africa. 

Little of its history is yet written, for Liberia’s hope 
is in the future, and in that future success is sure. 




I 






. 


6 7 o m 


































■nj-w 




X ^ V 

Z'. c v v 

' V ^ Y * 


>: Q' * 


% ~ '</> ^ 



> AV 
cP •< V 


* ( v cl. \ a- 

. * * , *>. * .0 N O ’ A O * 1 ! 1 * V ^ X 

* A, A * Wa\ V ,AV . ', 




\ 


r ' ' v. - 

A «f » 

.ww; ,^ v a -Wm?* <$>% °' 

s* A '. ■•"'■■- • A *,*© 5 *,* f ^ 

s A> . . C y o * A A °/ * / s s <6^ <* 

^ ^ ** <.° NC «, O- *“ f0 A *'"*,•% 

'' " >, A ‘‘‘■^' ‘ ° *' - 

5 <f f to 
* l,. 1 . •. 

A Tfi . ' '' ' . 



,. v 5»i ^ 

c^ r ^ ^ * p.0 C ^ ^ O P v> Xk ^°~ <* <*i 

7 . *>. * .■> n °' 9 /, ^ H o * ^°; 

r **> Jy o v a22L* ' A o> * 

* >* A? *<*• C. * .* A* r 



A A, 9 yyf^'SSir * A y /v - ;-f^ - A 

s v ^0 , „ <. ^ 0 * v ■* A v , o * / ' s s. .A? <*. 

-O' V*' % <*, / c 0 N c * v b -0‘ v * v ' 8 * ~<P 

. ^ *rms* *k, A -*.£>*'' ° . 0 *v ., - 

) x . fernSt •: > c '. •"© o N ’* •< 1 


ss: 


#■ 

> ^ r> ✓ 

^ A x "/ 

A X c 0 ' ‘ « -*o 

J» « rJ>S>tV ^ 

A ' / 



H -r 

* ^ ^ ' 

- * » ' ' • \ v s » » ^ ^ 0 V 0 

V s / > 


^ > 

^ y '^yo^' <r A 

%. * . x 0 > ^0 J o 

// > S> s * ' c 0 *. ; c 

' - AO 

* - -• — — _ - r x 

. , « <S‘. -\A 

. _ _. v _ M 2 r/ 'V 

V -P -* LL^Ti'’ -klA - c. *>■*. <V//a 


A' 




.v a. =%/jV-‘ a% a 

^ /v 




A'c C A A‘ 


*> 

V’^ s ■? « * 0 N 0 ^ ^ 

V OliW ^, > . V' N^ 


<A N v > * 0 ,. ^ 



°’> C » ' ^ ° ’ \^ 

^ * % v ' s 

^ //Vi O </> .\V o £ 

Ay 7 A 7 , ^V 


, 0 ^'v* v,,< 


\ 



< \ <D */ . . s 

#' c • ' 0 , -^b. * * 


11^ - % % -v o 

^ A> *3* o ^ 
s * 


V 











0 S » 


A^ 1 - .«. 59 «f* N ✓ 

/A ^ rvfV'S^ A. .V, 

<f> AV 




A v % 





>■*'-'*"'# *\":n 

> cy * 

*■ v 




** v ** 


I ~ ^ 


m** «f c \ % 
», >•' ,# * 



Or- A 


\ 


*-■• % .A »‘ 

*< ^ v « O 

V< 

K -0,* rt 0 c* ^ 

\ V S s * * / , ■=*>- ' 0 N ° ^ O ir , 

*'££~.>. • .*■ # .’A?A •’V ,y> 

v ^ r p® - - 

■' "' K^’ - ' J ' , ' A' >\ * «U’ 

' '■ * \ O. *, .s . 0 


'>. * 



1 A 


oo' * i 

i a* ^ 

^ z * 

^ V ' <4- 
\ -So / 

- sy cP* 


\ 


* V 




'''v% " A <•"*♦ *C •**■ . 0 ^ .•>••» ■«. 

p >yy77^ ^ ^ S* * x O c> V v i *f> 

* 0 !///T 2 -) * ^ A <* sva ' Va ^ v 

5 .,;• : ^ v* 

r»<‘-.* x°^. 

*1 ,. y> > ~ 4 

• '„' 0 ° °o % 

' N V o'* **♦«, ■ %. * 

> C, - Ar rs(\ >1 ^ <?' r <K> * * <y^ 

V «= rA?\b v) ^ ° O ^ 

<- >> * 

? 'y ~ 0 %' \F * ‘"V 


A -^ >»"'■» ■*©. 

k I 

O''CnXVvI 7& .r i v *** 4^tT \Mf//* 

O ^ ^ %H;\\ .- - 

* 1 -V * ' \^ s , ^ ^ o N 0 " .'d 0 ' 

v . _ 1 f, y 


^ V 


x 0c ^ 



y 0 « X ^ -A 




.<6 


A 0 K C „ 7 d <f "* v, 

a c > C u 4 o ^O v 

. o v- ^ ^ <j> rV N 

\ k cVo'AW ' v 

o 0 ^ I » 

i I 

■■■■ , ^ ^ 

* ^ 7 jy^ * \^ ^ ^ 

C* /- \ \L c^* 

' y 8 I \ ~ v\ xX • 

\> s o; ' > 

= *+4$ 


; 0 % ^VSy 

\ ,<$> tr ^ d 1 -i 

„ l A ./ . ^ 


S, S , o 

o * * 0^ *' 1 v *y, 

^ ’3 & ^ -» 'p 

/* 


<> y o * A U A 

•# 


'A ^ 
K = 


o> ^ - t 


"'• /s...,A ♦ -'• ’.y 

a. a 




O' «. * v •/* 


\ * o 


*w- v 



<y^ 

y 0 * ‘ ■* .A 0 V c „ A- ''' O' ' <> 

°o 0 ° 

\ O ( V^»K ^ 









































































